The Demon Within
by agent000
Summary: The only way to keep a demon under control is to seal it inside of a human body. The only ways for the demon to escape the seal are to either get the body killed or to love a human so much they break the spell, though that never happens. Demons can't love
1. Chapter 1

**_I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I just can't resist starting new stories! If a story idea is bugging me enough, I just can't seem to NOT write it out, and once it's written, I tend to want to post it. Sigh. I'm so sorry, don't kill me for starting a new one, please! I'll continue to try and update the others, I really will. I have more time now than I did a little while ago, so maybe I can start trying to finish some of the others up...maybe. Anyway, hope you enjoy._**

Disclaimer: I have a whole lot of FullMetal Alchemist merchandise. Do you know what that means? It means that I am a fangirl, and fangirls NEVER own what they are fans of...so why are you even asking me?

The shattering of glass could be heard as the woman looked up from the notes she was writing. Instinctively, she grabbed her wand. "That idiot," she said, "I knew he would come after me." She pushed herself up from the desk, and headed towards the room where she had heard the glass break.

The room was completely dark, but she knew he was there. She could feel the negative energy emanating from his aura. "You might as well show yourself, because I know you're here."

"And why would I want to show myself to you?" came the reply.

The woman turned her face in the direction she heard the voice come from. "You really are an idiot, aren't you? You just revealed your hiding place to me. I should be able to make quick work of you." With that, she raised her wand and uttered some unintelligible gibberish. The positive energy from the wand began to clash with the negative energy of the being before her, and the two energies collectively began to swirl around the room.

"You...won't be able to seal me away...this time," the being choked out, "I've...gotten stronger! I will kill you...once and for all...for all of our kind."

"Yes," said the woman, "You have gotten stronger, I can feel that...but so have I!" She gripped her wand even tighter, and the energy level in the room increased.

The other being began gasping for breath. It was obviously a lost cause in his case, but he managed to get a few more words out, despite the effort it took to do so. "Even if you seal me...I'll escape...and I'll be back!"

The woman laughed. "It's next to impossible for a demon to escape their prison, since love is the only thing that can break the spell, and you demons aren't capable of loving." She paused for a moment, just gaining awareness of the energy coursing through the room. It sounded to her like the being before her was trying to speak again, but it was taking too much effort, and no words were coming out. The woman raised her wand even higher. "You really aren't worth talking to. I'll just seal you now, and be done with it."

With that, she waved her wand in one large arc, which caused first an explosion, followed by a scream by the demon as he was forcefully carried out of the house on a ball of light into someplace in the distance. The woman stepped over to the window and watched the horizon as the small ball of light slowly disappeared from view. She sighed, and then muttered to herself, "It would be a lot easier on you if you would just forget."

Edward leaned on the door and took a deep breath before he pushed it open and stepped into the room. He hated having to talk to Colonel Mustang, but what was he supposed to do if Colonel Mustang sent for him? "Come on, Brother," said Al, "It won't be that bad, I'm sure. Besides, I'll be with you, so it'll be easier than facing him alone, won't it?"

Ed almost smiled at that comment. "Thanks, Al, I do appreciate that...though I'm not quite sure that ANYTHING could make it easier to talk to that man."

"Well, just the same, I..."

"Let's just get this over with," Ed interrupted as he pushed the door open and stepped into the room.

Roy looked up from his paperwork. "Oh, FullMetal, you're finally here." He paused for a moment before adding, "Have you gotten shorter?"

Ed was about to blow up at this comment before he felt Al's arm slam into his chest, reminding him to keep his temper under control. He quickly took the hint and backed down. His temper had gotten really bad over the years when one bad thing after another kept happening to the brothers, and it had started to get out of control. That kind of scared Al, so he decided to take things into his own hands and give his brother his own form of anger management...the guilt trip. He didn't like making his brother feel guilty like that, but it did control his temper, much to his relief. Strangely enough, once Al had finally gotten his original body back, the guilt trips became even more effective, so he didn't have to try as hard. Just touching Ed usually seemed to make him stop.

Roy looked somewhat amused at the scene before him, with Al keeping his brother's temper under control, but he didn't say anything. Instead he stood up and walked around to the front of his desk. He leaned back so that he was sitting on the edge of the desk, and crossed his arms. "Now, I suppose you're wondering why I sent for you?"

"Yes...?" said Ed with more than just a note of irritation in his voice.

Roy chuckled and then stood up on his own two feet, and started pacing back and forth in the room. "There is a certain kind of being that poses a great threat to humanity. They have access to tremendous power and knowledge, and they have a deep loathing for anything that breathes."

Edward yawned, Al glared at Ed, Ed shrugged, Roy chuckled, and then continued his story. "Anyway, these beings can only be defeated in one way, by being sealed away."

Ed wasn't sure that he wanted to know, but he had to ask anyway. "They have to be sealed away...where?"

Roy sighed, "Inside of a human body." Edward's eyes went wide in shock as he was about to sputter some sort of gibberish, but Roy interrupted him, "No harm comes to any human soul. They are sealed into the body of a unborn child that doesn't have a soul yet. They also have the ability to forget who they are, so some of them grow up never knowing what they are."

Ed looked down at the floor, and studied his boots. "Wouldn't it be better to leave them alone then, if they don't know what they are? Or are they still evil even then?"

"It depends," said Roy, "We try not to disturb them if they don't know anything about their true identity though, since that makes it easier on everyone involved, but we still like to keep tabs on them." Ed snapped his head up, suddenly alert. "There is one that we have just been informed of that was sealed away some years ago, but we have no knowledge of its whereabouts. Your mission is to find this being and report their location to us. Don't reveal to them anything more about their identity than they already know, or you could just make things worse."

Ed let out a bit of a snicker. This really seemed like a stupid mission for someone in the military to be sent on...but, after all, if they were going to send him on such a mission, he would go. It would be a diversion from the norm. "Very well," he said, "I accept the mission. How can I recognize this...this...what is it...when I see it?"

Roy smirked. "For lack of a better word, we call them demons."

"Demons?" Ed said as though the word tasted sour in his mouth, "Why would you send a state alchemist out on a mission like this? It sounds more like a witch hunt to me."

Roy continued with his annoying smirk, and said, "Not quite. Witches aren't a threat to us, so it's pointless to seek them out. Demons, however, are a different matter altogether." He reached back onto his desk and grabbed a folder jammed full with a bunch of papers. "Here is all the information we know about them. You should be able to find them with the information included in this packet." He handed the folder to Ed. "That is all, FullMetal, you may go."

Ed turned to leave, but then turned around one more time and said, "Wait, you never did answer why you'd sent a State Alchemist on a mission like this. Wouldn't it be more prudent to send a witch after a demon?"

Once more with the annoying smirk. "It would be if it were running loose, but it's not. All we want to do is keep tabs on it, so that's where you come in. Just find out where it is, and report back to us."

"O...kay..." Edward said, shaking his head, and then walking out the door. The mission might seem stupid to him, but hey, he was getting paid for it. It'd be interesting to do, whether it was stupid or not. "Thank goodness that's over," he said as soon as he'd stepped out the door and started flipping through the papers in the folder.

"How are we going to find this...demon...thing, Brother?" asked Al.

"How should I know?" asked Ed, continuing to flip through papers. "Well, we have one hint here. They think that it was sealed somewhere in the East...while that doesn't eliminate much...it does eliminate half of the country." Edward sighed. Al followed suit.

"Well..." Al said, "I guess that we hop on an eastbound train and see if we can get any clues."

"Right," said Ed, "In some city over there, I'd imagine that someone would recognize these personality traits in someone." He scanned over the list. Nope, he hadn't ever seen these kinds of traits in anyone he knew, so that eliminated the possibility that he had already run into this demon on his travels.

Edward sighed again. He'd been sighing a lot today. "Well, come on, Al, the day's not getting any younger."

"Uh..right!" Al picked up his pace and ran to keep up with his brother. Ed bought their tickets and the two soon found themselves on a train, heading east. "So...Brother..." Al asked hesitantly, "Is there any way that these...demons...can escape their...prison?"

"Well, according to these papers, they either have to die, though they can't kill themselves, because the spell that seals them specifically accounts for that, or they have to love someone so much that they can break free." He laughed. "Like THAT would ever happen."

"I'd imagine that if they loved someone so much that they broke the spell, they wouldn't really be a threat anymore, would they?" asked Al.

"Probably not...but they'd probably still try to seal them away again. I almost feel sorry for these...demons. I'm not even sure that I like the way their labeled, it makes them sound evil."

"But, Brother...they are evil."

Ed let the folder rest in his lap as he turned his head and looked out the window. "I'm not so sure. It seems to me like they're more...mistreated. They might seem evil, but they're probably just angry at the way that humans treat them."

Al laughed. "Now you're feeling sorry for demons. Do you realize how silly that sounds?"

Ed turned his head back to face Al. "Yeah, I suppose it does sound silly, but I can't help but wonder if there's more to it than meets the eye." Ed smiled at Al, and then said, "Well, let's get some sleep. We have work to do as soon as we arrive at our destination, so we need to get our rest."

"Good idea," said Al, stretching out on the bench seat, which just so happened to be exactly the right size for him. He hadn't quite caught up with the height he should have been yet, so he was still a bit short...shorter than Ed for that matter...but he would surpass him, he knew that much. Ed put his folder away and stretched out on his bench seat. Naturally, being short, it fit him too, but he chose to just ignore that little fact. True, Al was shorter than him now, so that made that fact a little easier to deal with, but still...

"Good night, Brother," Al said as he closed his eyes.

"Oh," said Ed, coming out of his trance, "Good night." He then rolled over and went to sleep.

**_Hope that you enjoyed that. A little weird, I know...but aren't I always weird? Please review, and let me know how you liked it. If you do, I'll update sooner, because I'll know that this story is actually liked, heh. Hope to see you soon._**


	2. Chapter 2

**_Hey, thanks everyone for your reviews! At least it means that this story is liked, heh. Strangely, I used to get more reviews for my stories, but I haven't been getting a lot lately. Sigh. Must be due to the fact that I haven't been very active as of late. Oh well, that ought to change quite soon, as I have more free time now. I guess that I'll just have to win my readers back, hehe._**

Anyway, I have a lot of inspiration for this story thus far, so as long as the inspiration lasts, I'll be able to update fairly quickly. However, I'll need the reviews to keep the motivation_ to continue, so please don't slack off on reviews, heh. Believe it or not, the writers on this site really depend on them, and I allow anonymous reviews now, so you don't have any reason not to, so make sure you review! Ha! (snicker...there, that ought to get 'em.)_

Disclaimer: Hmmm...what stupid thing can I say today...ummm...I can bore you to death by saying "ummm" can't I? Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmm... Okay, I'll quit. I don't own FMA, got it?

"Brother," Al called as he shook his brother awake, "Brother, wake up, we're here."

"Just five more minutes..." Ed lazily rolled over so that he was facing the bench, away from Al.

"We don't HAVE five minutes, Brother! This train is going to leave for its next stop in five minutes. You have to get up now!"

Ed moaned and finally sat up, quite perturbed about having had his sleep interrupted. "Well, they should make the time they spend at each stop a little longer." He yawned and stretched his arms, and then reached up and grabbed his and Al's suitcases. He turned his face towards Al and flicked it in the direction of the exit without saying a word to indicate that he wanted Al to follow. Al was used to Ed's less than pleasant early morning moods, so he just shrugged it off and followed after his brother.

As soon as they stepped off the train, Ed set his suitcase down on the ground and sat on it. Al fidgeted with his hands a bit, trying to find a way to break the tension and get things moving. At last, he spoke. "Brother, where do we go now?"

"How should I know?" Ed said grumpily, "All I really want to do is sleep right now. We can do our demon chasing later, alright?"

"Um...okay..." said Al, a little taken aback. True, he was used to these bad moods of Ed's, but that really didn't make dealing with them any easier. "I'll just...go and socialize with the people...I guess...okay?"

"Fine."

Al blinked back a couple tears that were pricking at his eyes, and then walked off in search of more pleasant company. Ed would come around when he'd had enough rest. He always did.

Al reached into his pocket and pulled out the handwritten copy he had made of the most common traits of a demon. He knew that he wasn't supposed to have this copy on his person, since he wasn't in the military, but he wanted to help his brother in any way possible, and hey, if they didn't get caught, what would it matter?

He walked up to the nearest person that he saw. "Excuse me," he said, "My brother and I are looking for someone, but we don't know his name or what he looks like. Tell me, have you ever met anyone with these kinds of traits?" The person scanned through the personality traits and other identifiable traits of demons written on the piece of paper for a few moments, and then shook their head, apologizing that they didn't know, and wishing Al luck on finding their missing person. "Well, thanks for your help anyway," said Al.

Not dissuaded, Al turned and ran up to the next nearest person with the same question, only to find the same results. He continued with a third person, and failed yet again. "Well," he muttered, "I suppose I'll have to ask an awful lot of people before I can finally get a lead."

"You're not trying to do my work for me, are you Al?"

Al turned around and saw his brother walk up to him, a half smile on his face. Al blushed a bit, and stammered, "Um...I-I was only...trying to help you, Brother...since you looked so tired...and..."

Ed chuckled and said, "Al, it's okay, I just got up on the wrong side of the bed. I'm fine now, and you don't have to do my work for me, though I appreciate your concern." He caught the look of disappointment in Al's eyes, so he spoke up again. "Hey, I don't mind if we work together, Al...you've always been a big help to me...always keeping my feet on the ground. Frankly...I NEED you, Al...don't ever forget that."

Al looked up at Ed with those big gray eyes of his and said, "Thank you, Brother...I'm glad to hear that I've been able to be of assistance to you." He paused for a minute, and then asked, "So, what do you think we should do now?"

Ed scratched the back of his head. "Well, I've never been able to work on an empty stomach, so I'd say that we get some breakfast first, and then we can work. We can even work out a plan of action while we're eating, if you'd like."

"Sounds good," said Al. The two boys quickly found a decent looking restaurant and ordered themselves some breakfast, and, as Ed promised, they worked out their plan of action. For the next few days, the two of them went around questioning people and trying to find a lead, all to no avail. The same thing happened in the next town they tried...and the next.

"It looks to me like we're getting nowhere fast," said Ed, "There must be something that we're not thinking about." Ed closed his eyes and took a deep breath, and then turned his head upward to look up at the sky. "We're really close to Rizenbul from here. Why don't we go and pay everyone a visit? It would be a nice way to kick back and relax, and I couldn't be accused of shirking my duties since it's in the same vicinity as all of these other towns we've tried."

"Well..." said Al, "I would like to see Auntie and Winry again...but are you sure that it's alright?"

"I'm sure," said Ed, "Come on, Al, let's go."

"Yes, sir!" Al said jokingly, though he was really happy about the whole idea. It had been quite some time since he'd been to his hometown, and he couldn't wait to see everyone again.

Finally, the train pulled into the station at Rizenbul. Al stepped off the train and breathed in the fresh country air as he waited for Ed to find his way off. He set his suitcase down on the ground and turned around to get a better look at the rolling hills not far off from where the station was. He was home.

Just then, a boy ran up and grabbed Al's suitcase. "Hey, wait!" shouted Al, starting to run after the boy, "Give that back!" It was no use though, because even in the few yards they'd sprinted, it was obvious that the boy was a much faster runner than Al. And here Al had such important things in that suitcase too...this was just terrible...

Suddenly, they boys heard a voice that sent chills down their spines. "Leave. Al. Alone. Or you will live. To. Regret it." Al turned around and saw Ed standing nearby, and he could have sworn that he saw fire blazing behind those golden eyes of his. No one messes with his little brother. No one. And anyone that did would pay.

Ed took a step in the direction of the two boys, and the thief took a step back. Ed took another step in his direction, and said, "Let go of the suitcase, or I will let you have it, and you'll be sorry that you ever crossed paths with me." The boy promptly dropped the suitcase and ran off in terror, leaving a very amazed Al looking back and forth between the two of them.

"Brother..." said Al, "...Where did you learn to command such respect and awe in someone? Have you been watching Colonel Mustang at work?"

Ed snorted. "Me, learn how to command respect from HIM? He can't even command respect from ME, so how could I learn anything from him? No, it's just that it really ticks me off when someone is mistreating you, that's all it is."

"Well...anyway...thank you, Brother," said Al, picking up his suitcase and briefly opening it to make sure that everything was still intact. Yes, nothing had been damaged, so he closed it back up and looked at Ed. "Shall we head to Winry's now?"

Ed shrugged. "Why not?" He picked up his own suitcase and led the way to Winry's house. When they got there, they were met by a very warm reception, with both Winry and Pinako fussing over them and commenting about how much they'd grown. Apparently, Winry must've left all her wrenches in the house and Pinako wasn't in the mood for short jokes right then, because it was a fairly pleasant meeting.

Later, at the dinner table, Al pulled the handwritten copy of demon traits out of his pocket and showed it to Winry. "Winry, this is the mission that Brother's been sent on. We're trying to find someone that matches the description given here, but we haven't succeeded in finding them yet. You haven't perchance seen anyone like this, have you?"

Winry picked up the paper and read over the things on the list while everyone else continued talking. Al had conveniently left out the fact that it was a demon they were after, since most people wouldn't be able to answer at all if you did mention it right off the bat. "Hey, we're trying to find a demon, have you seen any around lately?"

After a few minutes, Winry set the piece of paper down on the table. "Are you sure that you've looked thoroughly in all the places you've tried?" asked Winry.

"Yes," said Al, "We couldn't find one person that had ever run across anyone like that."

"And you're sure that you don't already know the person you're looking for?" prodded Winry again.

"Yeah," said Ed, "That was one of the first things I checked. I've never met anyone like that."

"Well...I know someone like this," said Winry.

Both boys turned their full attention to Winry and simultaneously said, "You do?" Winry nodded, and proceeded to tell them who. What she said next made Ed choke on his food. "The only person I know that acts like the person described here...is Ed."

**_Hope you liked that chapter, now please review if you want me to post the next chapter, okay? Thanks a bunch, and hope to see you back soon!_**


	3. Chapter 3

**_Wow, people are sure liking this story, aren't they? Thank you very much, I really appreciate the response! Heh, and yes, everyone, I knew that a lot of you expected what happened in chapter two to happen...so that's why I had that occur in chapter two rather than later in the story. Might as well get the obvious out of the way. From now on, it'll be harder to guess what's happening, heh heh heh. Of course, some of you guys are just really intuitive no matter what twists I throw in, so I can never fool everybody...but I can have fun with the weird twists I throw in anyway! Muahahahahahaha!_**

...Anyway...I hope that you all enjoy this chapter. Leave me some reviews after you're done reading, okay? Thank you! (overly annoying smile follows suit in order to try and convince you to review.)

Disclaimer: Disclaimed...(everyone's looking at me) What? That says it, doesn't it?

"Ed, are you okay?" cried Winry, who promptly ran over and started slapping Ed on the back to make him stop choking. Soon he stopped choking, but he glared at Winry. "Wh...What's the matter, Ed?"

"You're joking right?"

"Joking about what?"

"Joking that I am the only person you've ever met that fits the characteristics of a demon!"

Winry looked around between the two boys, trying to find some explanation. Al was still in a state of shock about what Winry had said, but he finally managed to clear his throat and explain. "Yes, Winry, we're actually looking for a...demon in man's clothing, if you will. The person that matched the character profile was supposed to be our man...but I don't see how Brother could possibly be 'it'. He has a bad temper and all...but I don't think he acts...demonic." Ed was sitting with his head crouched low over his plate so that one couldn't see his face. One didn't need to to read his expression however, as one could almost see dark fumes radiating from him.

"How dare you," Ed growled.

"Wh-Who are you talking to?" asked Winry.

Ed looked up at her from his crouched position and said, "I'm talking to you. How DARE you remind me of my true identity when all these years I had successfully managed to forget." Winry started visibly shaking. There was something wrong here, something very wrong. "For that," continued Ed, "You shall pay!"

Ed quickly stood up, knocking his chair over in the process. He placed his hands on the edge of the table, and yellow sparks, not blue alchemical sparks, but yellow sparks, flew out of his hands, sending the entire table across the room, and slamming Winry into the wall. Ed ran over and jumped up onto the table and transmuted his auto-mail arm into a blade and raised it up high to bring it down upon Winry. Winry looked up at him with terrible fear in her eyes. Any second now, she would probably be dead. She closed her eyes and waited for the inevitable.

Just then, Al rushed up and grabbed Ed around his ankle. "No, Brother, please don't! She didn't mean to do any harm, just leave her alone! Please, Brother!"

Ed glared down at Al and tried to shake him loose. "Let go of me you little runt! Why do you persist in calling me 'Brother' anyway now that you know my true identity? I'm not your brother and never was."

Al only gripped Ed's ankle even tighter. "All the same, just because you don't have a human soul, you are in a human body, and that body is related to me. Hence, you are my brother, and I'll always consider you as such...and...and...and I'll always love you, no matter what...but please don't hurt Winry anymore...please..."

Ed slowly lowered his arm and gave Al a disbelieving look. "You...still love me? How could you possibly love a demon? Humans and demons don't love each other!"

Al shook his head. "I don't care what is normally done. There is nothing you could do to make me stop loving you."

Ed snorted. "What if I told you that all my alleged love to you has all been fake?"

Al gripped Ed's ankle even tighter and looked up at Ed with tears in his eyes. "It...wasn't real?...even after all we've been through?...You...lied to me?"

Ed cocked his head to one side and looked down at the boy. "Listen kid, let me give you a piece of advice. Never trust a demon, no matter how sincere he may seem. That 'I love you' stuff was all just an act to keep my identity hidden, even from myself."

Silence fell upon the little group for several long minutes as they let all this sink in. No one moved a muscle, as they were all numb from the sting of Ed's words. Finally, Ed spoke up. "Listen, I'll let your precious Winry live today, but that's only because I don't think she's worth wasting the effort to kill." Al was so numb that he wasn't able to keep up the tension on his grip on Edward's ankle, so Edward simply pulled his boot out of Al's grasp as he said, "I'm going out, so don't bother looking for me. I'm not going to be back." With that, he walked away and slammed the door behind him.

It took a few minutes for everything to sink in, but before long, Al started to shake uncontrollably from sobbing. Winry had been bawling even before Al had been able to bring himself to, and it wasn't from the pain of being trapped between the table and the wall. She'd completely forgotten about her physical pain for the moment. Even Pinako was shedding a few tears, which everyone knew meant that she was distraught, since she wasn't the type to shed even a single tear over anything.

"Al," Winry sobbed, "What did I do? I ruined everything! I'm sorry, I'm so sorry! It would've been better if he had killed me back then."

"No," Al said, trying to console her, "It wasn't your fault, it was mine. I was the one that was so blind that I couldn't even tell that he didn't even love me. He even said on the train that demons weren't capable of loving." Suddenly, tears started streaming down his face in rivers. "But..But I always loved him so much, and yet he never loved me back! Sh-Should I just give up on loving him, since he's not even human?"

Pinako then walked up and put a hand on Al's shoulder. She brought out a handkerchief and wiped her eyes. "Alphonse, love transcends the obstacle of whether someone is human or not. It really doesn't matter, and it doesn't matter whether he loves you back. Loving him is your choice, and it's not foolish to do so. Even if he claims that he doesn't love you, you two have been through so much together. Are you really willing to just throw all that away just because you find out he isn't who you thought he was?"

Al looked into Pinako's eyes. He could barely say anything for the tears, but he managed to say, "Auntie" before he threw himself into her arms and started up with the sobbing again. Pinako didn't say a word, but just held him there until he cried all his tears out. Finally, he let go of her and stood back. "You're right, Auntie. Brother and I have been through so much together. I can't just throw it all away on account of the fact that he's a...demon." He gulped. "I need to find some way to help him." He was about to walk out of the room when Pinako reminded him that they still needed to release Winry from the wall. He blushed and ran back to the table and helped her pull it away from the wall, causing poor Winry to collapse to her knees.

"Are you alright, Winry?" asked a concerned Al.

"Yes...I'm fine...just a little dizzy."

Al ran over and helped her up, slinging one of her arms over his shoulder so that he could act as a crutch. He led her away into the living room, and set her down on the couch. "So," said Pinako, coming into the room, "What did you have in mind to help your brother?"

"Well, I don't really know much about demons," said Al, "so I was thinking...maybe there's a way that I could find the person that sealed him...and ask her, or something."

"It's worth a try," said Pinako, "But how are you going to find her?"

Al was already at the phone, dialing a number in and holding the receiver up to his mouth. "I'm calling Colonel Mustang. He'll probably be able to direct me to her." Pinako nodded her understanding, and just let Al be while he made his call.

After a few minutes, Al came back into the living room. "Colonel Mustang gave me the number to the lady that had sealed him, so I called her and told her the situation, and she said she'd be right over. She doesn't live too far away, actually. That's probably why Brother ended up being sealed here in Rizenbul." Everyone else just nodded but didn't say anything. Al sighed and sat down on a nearby chair and just waited.

Soon a car pulled up into their driveway, and a middle-aged woman stepped out. Al was a little surprised by her appearance. After all, if she had sealed away a demon, she had to have been a witch...but she looked just like a normal person. Maybe all the movies he had seen weren't actually based off of reality, but it was still kind of shocking to him.

"Is this the Rockbell house?" she asked.

"Y-Yes," said Al, hesitantly, "I just called you a little while ago. I was hoping that you could help my brother." The woman smiled at him and walked into the house, carrying what appeared to be something like a knitting bag with her. She set the bag down on the living room floor, and then started fumbling through it. Al quickly caught on that it held a lot of her witch materials.

"Do you know how to help my brother?" Al asked, a little impatiently.

"Help him with what exactly?" asked the woman, still fumbling through her bag.

Al shrugged. "Well, I don't know...help him to accept himself, accept us, help him to just be...himself again."

"Hmmm..." said the woman as she pulled out a few chemicals and set them on the floor while continuing to fumble, "That might not be so easy to do. Even demons have their own free will, and I can't do anything to alter that. The most I could probably do is summon him here and help him to seal away his memories of being a demon."

"But," Al protested, "Then we'd just be right back where we started, and now that we know that all his feelings for us have just been a charade..."

"...You want me to try and work with him as he is," the woman finished. She finally fished out her wand and set in her lap, and then turned and gazed at the containers of various chemicals and herbs she had lying around on the floor. "Look, something you may not understand about demons is that they have a deep-seated loathing of humanity, and there's no cure for that. The only way to keep ourselves safe from them is to seal them into human bodies where they can't do much harm. The body strips them of their powers so that they are safe to be around, even if they aren't exactly pleasant to be in the same vicinity with."

"But..." Al protested, "It seems that Brother is dangerous. After all, he sent that table flying across the room and had Winry pinned against the wall for awhile. Both he and I are alchemists, so that was the first thought that entered my head when I saw him do that...but now that I think about it, there was no way that that was alchemical energy. It had to have been demonic."

The woman sighed. "Yes, it's true, some demons are quite powerful even while trapped in their bodies. He had told me just before I sealed him that he'd gotten stronger. It appears that that statement was true."

"But how can he do that when he's been sealed?" Al asked again.

"Even a trapped lion can reach through the bars of his cage," said the woman. Al opened his mouth as the understanding suddenly hit him, but didn't say anything in response. That sentence had actually made sense, especially considering how strong and gifted he knew that Ed was.

"So, is there anything that can be done for him...at all?" asked Winry, "We've been friends ever since childhood. I'd hate to see all that go out the window just because I was stupid enough to cause his memories to return to him."

The woman smiled. "I can see that you all still care deeply for him, even being a demon." The others in the room nodded their sincerity. "Good. That might help. We would simply have to find a way to convince him of that. I can't guarantee that that would actually do any good for him, but it's our definite first step."

"So, do we have to wait for him to come back, if ever, or can you summon him here?" asked Winry.

"We can do either one. Just understand that the way the summoning works is that I cause him to have a throbbing headache, and the only way for him to get it to stop is to come back here and get me to relieve him of it." Al and Winry were both showing very questioning looks, so the woman continued, "With demons, you usually have to go to extreme measures to get them to do anything that you want. There have even been a few that actually managed to resist the summons and spent the rest of their life in excruciating pain. They are a very stubborn group."

"I see..." said Winry, sadly.

"It's your choice, you two. What would you like me to do, wait for him, or summon him?"

Al and Winry exchanged glances. They didn't say a word to each other, but somehow, they just knew what the other was thinking. Both of them then turned and faced the woman and said simultaneously, "Wait for him."

"He may not ever come back," said the woman.

"I know," said Al, "But if I want to convince him that I love him, I can't very well cause him pain, can I? I just have to hope that there is something, or someone, here that draws him back, even for a few minutes. Maybe he'll just come back looking for a book or something, I don't know...but I'll continue to wait and hope that he will."

"Al, don't you remember? He said he wasn't coming back," said Winry.

Al grabbed for his coat and slipped it on. "In that case, you and Auntie stay here and talk with her, and I'll go and look for Brother. He may not want me to seek him out...but I just have to do it. I'm not going to let our relationship end like this." He put his hand on the doorknob to go outside just as Winry called to him.

"No, Al, don't! Remember what he almost did to me? He could do that to you if he wanted in a heartbeat. He's not the Ed we've always known. It's foolish to go out seeking him right now."

Al turned around and faced her. "If I don't go, then what'll happen? We'll have a demon running loose, and he'll likely kill any unsuspecting person he runs into who just happens to tick him off. He has his memories back now, so he's not the person I know...but I still know him better than anyone else. Everyone around is depending on me to find him. I have to go, even if it means putting myself in danger."

Winry was about to protest, but decided against it and closed her mouth. She cast her eyes down to the floor as she blinked hard a few times to let the tears that were tickling her run out. After a few small drops of water appeared on the floor, she finally said, "Okay, I know that there's really nothing else that we can do under the circumstances...but be careful, okay?"

"I'll try, Winry...I seriously will."

Just then, the woman stood up and walked over to Al. "It took me awhile to find this in my bag since my organizational skills are a bit lacking..." she blushed, and then continued, "But I want you to take this." She held something out to Al, which looked to him like a pendant covered with a bunch of symbols. It was attached to a long, leather string. "This is an amulet that was designed especially to help protect one from demons. In case your brother decides to attack you, this will help you to survive his attacks."

Al looked at the amulet in his hand, and then back up at the woman. "I'd rather not wear something that he could accidentally see. After all, if he decides not to harm me at all, he might be hurt that I thought he was going to and needed protection."

"If that's your concern, just carry it in your pocket, then he'll never know unless he tries to attack you."

Al shrugged and gave in, especially when he saw the pleading look that Winry was giving him. He thanked the woman for her help, shoved the amulet in his pocket, and then headed out the door.

"Be careful, Al," said Winry under her breath after Al left, "Please be careful."

**_Thanks for reading, now please leave a review if you want to see the next chapter. I still have a lot of inspiration for this story, so I'll update really soon if I get some reviews, hint hint. Hope to see you around soon!_**


	4. Chapter 4

**_Hey everyone, welcome back! Bear with me, it should only be a couple more chapters or so before it gets into the most interesting part of the plot (the most bizarre part, in other words, heh heh heh). As long as my creative streak sticks with me, I should hopefully be able to whip those chapters out like I've been whipping these ones out. Cross your fingers that the creative streak stays with me, okay?_**

Disclaimer: I'm sitting at the library, I own a cat that my mother's taking care of right now, orange juice makes me sick from its high sugar content, and none of that has anything to do with the fact that I don't own FullMetal Alchemist.

Al trudged through the mud and grass as he made his way to the woods where he figured his brother was probably hiding. It seemed kind of ironic that it was muddy today, since that meant it had rained at some point, and it had certainly seemed the ideal day for a sadder form of weather to manifest itself in Al's opinion.

He reached into his pocket and fingered the amulet. Did he really need it? He was tempted to just leave it and go seek out Ed without it, since he was going to find his brother after all, not some criminal that he needed police protection from. However, he couldn't get Winry's pleading expression out of his head. It would just kill him to see what that expression would turn into if anything were to happen to him. No, he'd better continue carrying the amulet, just in case.

It had been awhile since he'd walked this much in such a short time, so when he finally got to the edge of the woods, he placed his hand on a nearby tree and stopped to catch his breath. Sweat threatened to drip down his face, so he wiped the drops of sweat away with his sleeve. He lifted his eyes up and looked around. "Brother?" he called, "Are you around anywhere? Please, I just want to talk to you." No response, so he just shrugged and continued on.

Now, he thought to himself, if I were in Brother's shoes right now, where would I hide? I guess that if I had just remembered that I was a demon bound in a human body, something that I didn't want to remember, I'd probably look for a dark secluded place to sulk.

With that thought in mind, he pressed deeper into the woods. He knew of just such a spot, one that Ed had actually always been intrigued by, though neither of them ever knew why it fascinated him so much. Now Al suspected that his demonic nature just liked dark things. It was understandable, considering that he was a dark being, but it did make his movies a little too easy to predict. Of course, that could also just be because he was his brother that he could predict his moves. Maybe it was a combination of both. Okay, it didn't matter why, he just needed to find his brother.

"Brother, are you in here?" No response yet. Ed was probably in an even darker part of the woods than this area, which meant that he'd walked quite a ways just to get to a dark spot to sulk. "Brother, why are you so obstinate at times?" Al sighed, and then remembered that he was a demon, so he likely couldn't even help it. "Don't worry, Brother, I'll do my best to find a way to get you to accept yourself as you are. I'm not going to try and change you. I love you as you are. I only want you to be happy." Of course, Al knew that Ed couldn't hear anything that he had said, but he just felt that he needed to let it out, regardless.

Al continued walking for some time. He didn't really know how much time had passed before he realized just how dark it was where he was at. Maybe Ed was around here somewhere. He was about to call out when he heard what he thought sounded like sobbing coming from somewhere nearby. His empathic instincts flipped on overdrive, and he found himself following the sound to find the source of the crying.

He soon came to a large pine tree, and seated at the base of the trunk was Ed, sobbing with his head in his hands. Tears were coming to Al's eyes at seeing his brother like this. He desperately wanted to help his brother feel better. "Brother..."

Suddenly Ed startled and jumped to his feet. Al was about to ask him what was the matter when Ed answered for him. "I should have been able to sense you approaching me, yet you snuck up on me...you're wearing an amulet, aren't you?"

Al opened his mouth to protest, but Ed just walked up and grabbed Al's coat. He was met by an explosion and was thrown by an invisible force back into the tree. "Ouch," he rubbed his head, "Just as I thought...amulet. I thought you said you loved me still...yet you come to me with an item that doesn't even allow me to touch you. How is that love? Are you just planning on doing away with me while I can't lay a finger on you?"

Al sunk to his knees. "Brother, no, that's not it at all! I didn't want to bring it with me...I was pretty much forced to in order to keep everyone from worrying. I'm sorry, I didn't know you wouldn't be able to touch me if I wore it, I was only told that it would protect me if you attacked...though I didn't think that that would actually happen." He looked down at the ground for a moment as he felt a pang of guilt surge through him, and then lifted his eyes back up to look at Ed. "Is there any way that I can prove to you that I love you?"

Ed was occupying himself by biting off the ends of his fingernails and spitting them out. "So, you want to prove that you love me, eh?" He stopped biting his fingernails and reached into his pocket. He produced a small pocketknife and proceeded to flick it open. "If you really love me..." he then threw the knife so that it landed blade down in the earth right in front of Alphonse, "...kill me."

"Kill you? I couldn't do that! Why would you even want me to do that to you? Life can't possibly be that bad!"

"You said that you wanted to prove that you loved me, didn't you? If you truly loved me, you would free me from this prison of a body. You know that I can't kill myself, that's part of the spell. Kill me, then I'll know that you truly love me."

Al placed both his hands on the ground in front of him and let his head droop down so that it wasn't facing in Edward's direction. He couldn't bear to look at Edward...or the knife...for the moment. "Brother...my love for you...and everyone else...won't let me kill you. I don't know how I can convince you that I love you if that's the only criteria you have for determining if someone loves you. Human beings don't show love by killing one another...and it's for that reason that I can't kill you. Even though it would release you...I honestly can't say what you'd do after you were released. You might kill someone, and I could never forgive myself for allowing that to happen."

Ed sneered. "I figured as much. All you humans are the same: weak, hateful, and fearful creatures. You all fear the unknown, so you inflict pain on anyone or anything you don't understand. You call us evil, but I'd say that human beings are the true evil. All we're trying to do is purge the universe of this vile species that destroys everything in its path." He stood up and began to walk away, but stopped after a few steps and turned back to look at Al. "And yes, if I were to be released, I would kill someone. I'd kill that witch that sealed me so that she couldn't seal anyone else!" He clenched his hand into a fist and gritted his teeth, obviously irritated. However, just as suddenly as the reaction occurred, it left, and so Ed started walking away again.

"B-But...Brother..." Al called, "Wait...don't go...please!" Of course, it was a waste of breath, for Ed just kept on walking, completely ignoring Al. He stood up and dusted himself off, and pondered whether he should continue to try and follow Ed and win him over, or if he should just let him go. No, he couldn't just let him go, or he might never come back. He'd have to follow him, but he didn't want to tick him off too badly. He would just have to follow him at a distance, so that he didn't even know Al was following him. With the amulet, Ed couldn't sense Al's presence, so he might be able to pull it off.

Al followed silently for quite some time. He was getting tired and weary, and really wanted to stop and rest, but if he did, he would lose sight of Ed, and probably never be able to find him again. He just had to press on. This was his only chance.

Al looked up and thought he saw some bright lights up ahead. What the heck? He moved closer, and soon could swear that he heard voices too...taunting voices. He still couldn't make out what they were saying though. He hoped that his brother wasn't in trouble...but that was silly...how could a demon get in trouble? Ed in particular still retained a lot of his demonic powers for being sealed, so he should be fine...shouldn't he? Oh gosh, now he was worrying. The only way he could quit worrying now was to actually find out what was up ahead. He picked up his pace just a bit so that he wouldn't make any noise and approached whatever it was that he was seeing and hearing.

"So, the little sealy baby gets his memories back, does he?"

"You're a failure at everything you do. Not only can you not avoid getting sealed, but you can't keep yourself from remembering."

"Oh, look at me! I'm a wimpy little demon who can't do anything right!"

"Shut up! All of you!

"Ooh...somebody's getting mad! I'm scared now!"

"What're you gonna do, eat us?

"Someone take pity on me, I'm the demon with big dreams and no brain!"

"I TOLD YOU ALL TO SHUT UP!"

The heckling continued to escalate, and by now Al was close enough to observe the action taking place. Several transparent beings were surrounding Ed, shouting insults at him, and shoving him around. Al assumed that those must be unsealed demons who didn't pose much of a threat because they were too afraid to do anything that might get the attention of a witch. If that were the case, then they really didn't have any right to tease Ed, because at least he had the guts to try...though, come to think of it, Al wasn't even sure what Ed had failed at attempting to do. Probably kill somebody, that was probably it...but at least he wasn't afraid to strive for what he believed in, he could find that much good in him, and if you can find one good thing in a person, you can always find another...and another.

"Why don't you guys just leave me alone? What have I done to you?" Ed yelled as tears were starting to roll down his cheeks.

"Oh, is the little baby starting to cry? Do I need to get you your bottle?"

The other demons snickered. Ed finally let his knees buckle beneath him as he placed his head in his hands and started to let the tears flow freely. He seemed quite humiliated. Those must've been some major insults to hurl at a demon, particularly a sealed one. Upon seeing this, the other demons started taunting even louder and began assaulting Edward physically by throwing him around so that his head would smash against rocks or they would cause him pain in some other way.

Al stood by watching all of this. "I have to do something, or they're going to hurt him really badly. They probably aren't capable of killing him, or they don't want to...but they have no reason to torture him like that." He reached into his pocket and pulled the amulet out and looked at it. He took a deep breath and let it back out. "Well, amulet, I hope that you'll work on demons that don't have bodies as well as ones that do."

Gripping it tightly in his hand, he rampaged out into the middle of the scene. A demon was about to throw Ed against a stone wall, but Al quickly grabbed Ed, causing Ed to scream from the reaction to the amulet, and promptly threw him to the ground where he'd be safe from the amulet's effects. He then turned his attention upward to stare at the demons flying around and said, "No one hurts my brother and gets away with it." The demons began laughing at Al's words, until Al revealed the amulet. He grabbed it by the leather strap, swung it around in the air a few times, and shouted, "BEGONE!"

Just like that, all the demons in the area were gone...that is, except for Ed, who was still trapped in a human body. Al quickly set the amulet down on the ground and ran over to where Ed was and knelt down next to him. "Brother, are you okay?"

"I'll live," he moaned, "Unfortunately."

"Were those other demons actually trying to kill you?" asked Al.

"No, they never had any intentions of killing me. I'm not even sure that they can. They only wanted to hurt me as much as they could," said Ed.

"Why would they do that?" asked a bewildered Al.

Ed tried to sit up, but just fell back on the ground, so Al slipped his arm under Ed's back to steady him a bit. Ed turned to face Al, and for the first time that day, actually managed a bit of a smile, and then sat up with Al's help.

"They're just jealous of me, because I was willing to risk everything for what I believe, and they're too afraid to try."

"I thought it might have been something along that line," said Al, "Would you mind telling me more about what caused you to get sealed in the first place?"

Ed shook his head. "I don't want to talk about it, Al. Getting oneself sealed is a major humiliation for a demon. I'm not even worthy of your love, so I don't know why you keep persisting."

"Does that mean that you believe me that I love you now?" Al asked eagerly.

Ed chuckled. "How could I NOT believe it after that little feat you pulled there? You saved me not only from the intense pain they would have put me through, but from the utter humiliation as well...and to think how long you must've been following me in order to even know I needed help..."

Al went silent for a moment as he thought. He continued holding Ed up with his arm, and he licked his lips as he pondered how to ask what was on his mind. Finally, he spoke. "Brother...do you still...I mean...do you...love...ME?"

Ed turned and gave a steady gaze to Al for a minute or two without answering. Finally, he pushed himself up to his feet. "Let's go, Al."

"Go where?"

"Home.

"Home...as in the Rockbells'?"

"Where else would it be?

"Then, does that mean..."

"It doesn't mean anything, now don't get any silly ideas in your head, moron!"

Al stood still for a moment at the sting Ed's words had produced. Apparently, Ed continued to persist in stating that he didn't love Al. That hurt, that really hurt...but at least Ed had accepted Al's love for him, and he was coming home. That, at least, was a start.

"Are you coming?" Ed called impatiently.

"Oh, um, yes!" Al started looking around. "Have you seen that amulet around?"

Ed sighed. "Must you bring that thing?"

"Um, well..." Al started, "It did come in quite handy when you were surrounded by all those other demons."

"Fine, bring the stupid thing," Ed said, "It's over there."

Al followed the direction Ed pointed, and soon found the amulet and put it back in his pocket.

"Just remind me not to touch you until you quit carrying that thing around."

"Uh, right," said Al, running to catch up with his brother, who was already ahead of him in spite of the fact that he had been severely beaten up just a few minutes beforehand. "Auntie and Winry will be glad to see you come back."

"Yeah, whatever."

Al sighed. Apparently it would take a lot more than just saving him from rude demons to melt his cold heart, but he hoped he would succeed. Scratch that, he would succeed...he just...didn't know how quite yet. But somehow, someway, he'd find a way to win his brother back. Demon or not, he'd find a way to bridge the gap.

**_Hope that you liked that chapter. Leave me some reviews so that I can update, okay? Thanks a bunch!_**


	5. Chapter 5

**_Hey, everyone! Welcome back! Heh heh...this chapter was pretty fun to write...at least, towards the end. I had to stop and start this one several times in order to finally figure out what I wanted to do with it, but I managed to get it, heh. (And within one day's time too...pretty good for someone who's stumped, huh? Hehe.) The plot's starting to pick up! Yeah! Hehehe._**

Anyway, I hope that you enjoy this chapter. Leave me some reviews when you're done reading, okay?

Disclaimer: Must I always put these up? Probably not, but it's like...some sort of sacred tradition...like if you break it, something bad will happen to you. You know, kind of like those chain letters you get that promise bad luck if you don't pass them on. Hmmm...I never pass on chain letters, yet I succumb to these disclaimers. Why? Sigh. Anyway, I don't own FullMetal Alchemist. Just having a little fun.

"Winry, Auntie, we're back," Al called. Winry came into the room to greet the boys as they entered the house.

"Al, Ed, you're both back safe and sound! We were so worried about you!" Without thinking, she promptly threw her arms around both of the boys. Al didn't mind, but Ed thought differently about the matter.

"Get your stinking arm off me, you witch!" He grabbed her arm and thrust it back at her. Winry stumbled back a few steps in shock, not quite sure what to say or do. Al just looked at her and shook his head, trying to explain to her to just ignore Ed's behavior, because this was who he really was, and always had been, and there wasn't a thing that could be done about it. Winry nodded in response. Apparently she had caught the message.

Not noticing the little nonverbal conversation taking place between Al and Winry, Ed brushed past them and went in search of everybody else. After all, he knew that there was a new person in the house. He didn't need anyone to tell him so, because he could just feel it, and he didn't like the feeling he was picking up.

Soon he arrived in the living room and saw Pinako and the witch lady sitting there, discussing things between themselves. He interrupted their conversation by growling, "You! How dare you set foot in this house you evil, heartless scumbag! You're a pathetic excuse for a human being. As soon as I get out of this body, I'll be sure to put you out of your misery."

Winry and Al stood nearby, listening to the whole thing. Winry then turned to Al and said, "Well, one thing I can admire about Ed is that he isn't cussing. He hasn't used one swear word thus far."

Al rolled his eyes. "No, but that doesn't mean he's holding back. Swear words don't really carry any meaning anymore since they're used so much. The words he picks actually hurt, which is why he chooses them over swear words."

Winry cast her gaze down to Al's feet. "...Yeah...I guess you're right...but I was just trying to find some sort of good quality in him...that lady told us to look for good qualities in him even in his current state."

At this, Al smiled. "Well, then you should have just asked me. I've already been doing that. The first good thing I noticed about him is the fact that he's not afraid to stand up for what he believes in, no matter what the risk or cost."

"But all his previous actions were just a charade..."

"I'm not talking about his acts toward us," Al interrupted, "I'm talking about before he entered our lives. It was this trait of his that got him sealed in the first place. I still don't quite know what he was standing up for, but it was something he believed in quite strongly, and he ended up having to pay the price, namely, getting sealed."

Winry put her hand underneath her chin and looked into Al's eyes. "I see...that could be a potentially good trait."

Al studied Winry's face for a few minutes before saying anything else. Finally, he asked, "So, did that woman tell you anything else while I was gone?"

Winry scratched her head. "Well, most of the time was spent in us giving her information about Ed so that she could try and interpret the situation. She suspects that she might not be able to do much due to his nature, since he's probably going to drive her out of the house soon, but she did give us some charms and potions to protect ourselves from him and any other demons should the need arise."

Al sighed and dropped his gaze to the floor. "I see...so, there's no hope for Brother?"

At this, Winry grabbed his shoulders and shook them somewhat. "I didn't say that! I said that there's not much that SHE can do. She said that considering the nature of the closeness of this family, particularly the bond between him and yourself, there's a possibility that we might be able to break through his shell somewhat, but magic will not reach his heart, so there's nothing she can do."

They were interrupted by screams coming from the living room accompanied by Ed's yelling out quite a few more creative insults. Al and Winry were about to run to the scene to try and see if they could help, when the witch lady came running through the room with Ed following closely behind her, still shouting insults.

Al and Winry quickly sprung into action and grabbed hold of Ed, though that caused him quite a bit of pain since Al was still holding the amulet in his pocket, but Ed tried to pretend like he didn't notice it, and continued to shout at the woman as she sprinted out the door.

Ed finally wrestled himself away from their grasp and ran to the door. The woman was already getting into her car, so Ed decided against running after her and just shouted at her from the doorway. "And if you ever set foot in this house again, I'll make sure to..."

Al placed his hands over his ears. He didn't particularly like to hear his brother being so cruel, so he figured it would be easier if he just didn't listen to it. He watched Ed's face to wait for when his lips stopped moving before he removed his hands from his ears.

Ed was still ranting after the woman when all of a sudden, his eyes turned from his normal golden color to a bright, glowing yellow. Al cried out in shock at the sight, causing Ed to turn to him and say in irritation, "What?"

The eyes returned to normal again, but Al was shaking a bit from what he had just seen. "Y-Your eyes j-j-just g-glowed." Ed just rolled his eyes at him and turned away from the door to head back into the house. He stopped after a few feet, back still facing Al, and said,

"It's just a normal demonic trait. Our eyes glow bright yellow whenever our emotions get really strong."

"They all glow bright yellow?" Al asked hesitantly, "E-Even when they don't have golden eyes like you do?" Ed wasn't listening, however, and was already walking away, so Winry turned towards him and answered his question instead.

"That lady told us that all demons have golden eyes...and that only demons have that eye color. So...I guess that means that if you ever run into anyone else with golden eyes, it means that they're a demon."

"You're kidding!" Winry just shook her head. Al smacked his hand on his forehead in shock. "Such an obvious sign, and I'd missed it all these years. I just thought it a unique eye color that my brother just happened to have. Now you're telling me that it's a...demonic...color?"

Winry gave Al an Are-You-Really-That-Dense look and said, "Al...they mentioned the eye color on that list of demonic traits you'd handed to me. You were even the one that copied it down by hand. How could you have possibly not noticed it?"

"Oh, well, I noticed it on the list," he said, hastening to defend himself, "But I just thought it was somebody else with the same eye color as Brother. I didn't know that it meant that it was strictly a demonic eye color."

Their conversation was interrupted by Ed suddenly entering the room and proceeding to try to brush past them. Al reached out to grab his brother as he said, "Brother, where are you going?" Of course, this action caused yet another explosion to occur, which made Ed scream and jerk his arm away from Al.

Ed gave his little brother a glare and then said, "For the last time, either put that thing away somewhere else or quit touching me!"

"I-I'm sorry, Brother!" He pulled the amulet out of his pocket and set it on a nearby table. "I'd forgotten that it was in my pocket. I wouldn't have touched you had I remembered." Ed just grunted and continued to walk past him. "Wait," called Al after him, "Where are you going?"

"Out," he replied simply.

"Well, then wait for me. I'm going with you."

Ed stopped and turned his head around to face Al. "Why?"

"B-Because I love you!" Al cried. Ed was a bit intimidating when he was all demonic, but there was nothing he could do to drive Al away. Nothing.

Ed turned back to face the door, took a deep breath and let it out, and then said, "Fine! Hurry up though!"

"Uh...right!" Al quickly ran into the living room to where Pinako was and asked her if that witch lady had given them anything that would help protect from other demons, particularly the unsealed ones, but that wouldn't harm Ed in the process. He hated how that amulet always hurt Ed every time he touched him. There had to be a better way.

"Well..." said Pinako, puffing on her pipe for a few moments before responding. She picked up a small bottle with some purple liquid in it and said, "This usually scares demons away, but it has no effect on human beings whatsoever. Your brother is in a human body, so that should protect him from its effects. All you have to do is throw it at the demons involved. I have to warn you though, this potion explodes when thrown, so stay out of the way of it or you could get yourself hurt."

"Thanks, Auntie," said Al, taking the potion, "I'll make sure to be careful. I just wanted to have something to drive any unsealed demons away who come to torment Brother. I'm guessing that this will do the trick without hurting him in the process."

"Take care of yourself," said Pinako, "And take care of Ed for me too."

"Thanks, I will."

With that, he shoved the potion into his pocket and ran back out to the foyer where Ed and Winry were still standing, waiting for him. Ed glared like he seemed to always be doing lately, and motioned for him to come along. Al nodded, said goodbye to Winry, and followed Ed out the door.

Al wanted to converse with Ed, possibly get him to loosen up, but he could tell that Ed was by no means in the mood to chat, so he just walked along in silence, just trying to give him moral support by his presence alone.

They walked along for some time, not really knowing where they were going, but just walking for the heck of it simply to get the stress worked out. Soon they found themselves deep in the woods again. Apparently, Ed was just naturally drawn to this part of the woods where it was really dark. It was understandable, but it was weird that he would just head here without even consciously knowing that that was what he was doing.

"So, you've come back for more, and you've even brought your little guard dog with you. How sweet, I think I'm going to cry."

Ed turned around to see the source of the voice and saw a translucent being standing there, grinning a very obnoxious grin. "Don't. You. Dare. Talk. About. Al. Like. That."

"Ooh, I got the baby mad! What shall I do? Where shall I hide from his tremendous wrath?"

"SHUT UP!" Ed lunged toward the demon, though he'd apparently forgotten that it was a non-material being, and so he just passed right through and fell to the ground.

"Ha ha ha...WIMP!" Ed turned around to see that that taunt had come from not just the one demon, but many. They had apparently shown up all of a sudden as soon as they learned that he was there. Was he the only entertainment accessible to them or something?

Ed stood up and was about to charge at them again, when one of them stopped him. "I wouldn't do anything too hasty if I were you." The demon then pointed over to Al, who was surrounded by many demons, and one of them was even reaching one of their arms inside of the boy. "If you do anything rash, we won't hesitate to kill your little brother. He's human, so it's quite easy to pull off since there's no spell interfering with the process. What method were we planning on using...tearing his heart out of his chest?" The other demons nodded, and Ed went wide-eyed.

"You wouldn't!"

"Why not? It's been awhile since we've had a good killing...or do you actually have some feelings for this particular one?" At this, the other demons started laughing again.

Ed growled and clenched his fists. "What is it you want from me?"

The demon put a hand on Ed's shoulder. "Now there's a good boy. Now you're starting to think clearly again. What I want you to do is go back and kill everyone in town. Do that, and we'll let your brother live."

"You...You're evil!"

The demon laughed again. "Well, so are you...or at least, you're supposed to be. What's the matter, all these years of being human making you soft?" Ed got so angry that he threw a punch at the demon, though of course his fist just passed right thought it, causing some more laughter to come his way. He didn't know what to do...he didn't particularly want to do any unnecessary killing...this human body he was in somehow made it so that he was a bit hesitant to kill humans...but he didn't want anything to happen to Al either. Al was the only one that he knew for absolute certainty that he loved him. It was quite rare for a human to love a demon. He couldn't just let anything happen to Al, but what could he do about it?

"Brother, don't worry about me! Just do what you know is right!"

"But Al...they'll kill you!"

"No they won't." Al reached into his pocket and pulled out the potion. He was about to throw it when the demons around him noticed what he was holding and hit his hand so that he lost control of the throw. The bottle ended up landing on the ground right in front of Al, causing an explosion that left him unconscious on the ground.

"Al!"

The demon near Ed clicked his tongue. "Aw...too bad. He sacrifices himself for his demonic brother, but still doesn't dispel all the demons around. Poor thing. He just made it easier for us to kill him too." Just like that, demons were surrounding Al once again, but there wasn't a thing that Al could do to drive them away this time due to the fact that he was unconscious.

"Now, do what we ask, or we will kill your little brother."

Ed turned defiantly to face the demon, and said, "No, Al's right. I can't do this, no matter what the cost!"

The demon laughed and said, "You'll let your little brother go so easily? Very well then." Turning to the other demons, he said, "Do it." Ed clamped his eyes shut tight. He did not want to see this. Not to the one person that loved him unconditionally.

"I have a better idea," said a demon that was standing near Al as they picked up a piece of the bottle of potion that still had a small amount of the purple liquid in it. She smirked. "I wonder what'll happen if I do...this!" The demon threw the potion in Ed's direction. Ed opened his eyes just long enough to take in the situation, but not long enough to do anything about it. The potion hit his chest and promptly exploded, knocking him helpless to the ground.

Ed lay there, fighting unconsciousness as he listened to the demons snickering and plotting what next they would do to Al. No, Ed thought, I have to protect Al. He sacrificed himself to protect me...it's my responsibility to protect him...as the older brother.

Struggle as he might, he couldn't move a muscle, and unconsciousness was constantly creeping up on him. No, he had to stay awake. If you fall asleep they're going to kill Al. Stay awake. Fight. You have to save Al. You have to!

_"Why?"_

"Why what?"

_"Why do you have to save Al?"_

"Just...because."

_"Because why?"_

"Wait, who the heck are you, anyway?"

_"I am your subconscious mind. I know everything about you, so don't even try lying to me."_

"What do you want?"

_"I want what you want. I am you."_

"Well, what is it that I want?"

_"To find the answer to that question, you'll have to answer my original question: Why do you want to save Al?"_

"I told you it was just because I wanted to!"

_"You have a deeper reason than that. Be honest with me, I know you're hiding something."_

"If you know I'm hiding something, then you probably know what it is as well, so why don't you just leave me alone?"

_"Because, in order to gain what you want, YOU need to acknowledge what it is you want and why."_

"Grrr...Alright, fine...Al is the only person that has ever cared for me unconditionally."

_"Why does that matter to you?"_

"Why shouldn't it?"

_"You're a demon. A human's thoughts and feelings toward you shouldn't matter to you."_

"Well...Al's different."

_"How so?"_

"He just...is."

_"Why? What makes him different from everyone else?"_

"Well...It's just that..."

_"Yes?"_

"It's just that...I..."

_"Say it."_

"I...I love him!"

Just then, Edward felt some sort of strange energy surge through him, like none that he'd ever felt before. He tried to move his arm, and found to his surprise that he could...and also that it felt lighter than it had in a long time. He tried sitting up, and succeeded at that too. He opened his eyes and found that the other demons around were upon Al. In no time, they'd probably have him dead. He had to do something.

"Leave Al alone!" Ed jumped up and practically glided to where Al was, right past all the other demons, and grabbed hold of Al. Now that he had him, what should he do with him? He had to find a way to keep him safe...somewhere where the other demons wouldn't be able to harm him...but was there such a place?

Ed glanced up to see where the other demons were. They were getting over their shock and were gaining on him. Just then, Ed happened to glance over to where he had been knocked out just a short while ago...and was surprised to note that his body was still lying there on the ground. He put his hand in front of his face, and noticed that it was slightly translucent. Then it hit him. He had released himself from the seal. His love for Al had broken the spell. He had done it!

All too quickly, the other demons reminded him of their presence there. However, they were now at a disadvantage, since Ed's powers were now unfettered, and he knew it. "I told you to leave Al alone, and I meant it!" He lifted up his hand, aiming his fingers at the other demons, and yellow sparks flew out of his fingertips. The demons backed off a little bit, being a bit startled at the feat.

"That ought to keep them off of us for a couple minutes," Ed said out loud, turning to Al. He took his hand and brushed Al's hair out of his face. "Al, I'm sorry for what I've said and done to you all this time. I do love you...how can I not? You're my little brother...and I'll get you out of here." With that, Ed turned around one more time to look at the other demons, who were starting to get their bearings again and come after him. Ed then turned his attention back to Al, wrapped his arms around him, and closed his eyes. Ed then vanished without a trace, taking Al with him.

**_Hope that you liked that chapter. Leave me a review, or the leprecauns that keep pestering me in my "One Year" author notes will track you down. I don't know what they do after they find a person, so you should probably leave a review to keep from having to find out, eh? I wouldn't trust those little guys any farther than I can throw them...which isn't very far. I've been called "noodle arms" and "spaghetti arms" before...so...um...yeah, whatever I was saying...just like chain letters and disclaimers...not leaving reviews is bad luck! So, leave reviews, okay? Heh._**


	6. Chapter 6

**_Heh heh...here is the next helping of "The Demon Within". Fun chapter to write, since it's starting to get weird. I feel most at home amongst uber-weirdness, for some odd reason, hehe. I don't quite know why, but, um...anyway, enjoy the chapter!_**

And here we have the disclaimer says the tour guide. Everyone oohs and awes, and then he continues by stating that its inscription roughly translates to saying that I don't own FullMetal Alchemist, though he doesn't have a clue what that's supposed to mean...probably some unknown ancient code, or something. Heh, little does he know.

Al slowly opened his eyes and squinted at the light. He blinked several times, but the scenery around him was just too hazy, he couldn't make it out just yet. "Brother?"

He glanced around, trying to catch some image of Ed nearby, but couldn't see clearly enough to make anything out. Maybe if he were to get up and walk around, it would help. He made to stand up, but fell back down. That was strange, it was as if something were holding him down. He tried to pull his hand free from whatever it was, but it wouldn't budge. Strange. Very strange. "Brother, where are you?"

Again he tried to stand up, and promptly fell back down. Whatever was holding his hands in place wasn't giving him enough room to even stand. This was annoying. What was holding him in place...and where was his brother?

Al sat there for several minutes, eyes shut tight and trying to concentrate in order to get his bearings. He knew that he had recently been knocked unconscious from the explosion of that potion that went out of his control, but he couldn't find any rational explanation for this. Finally, he opened his eyes again, and his vision began to clear.

He was a bit surprised at the sight that met his eyes. The sky was an angry red color with equally crimson clouds. The ground was barren and so dry that it was filled with cracks. He spotted his brother a short distance away, standing on a rock with a displeased look on his face as the hot, dry air battered at his hair. How did they get here? This place was terrible!

Al then looked down at his hands, and nearly jumped out of his skin. His wrists were handcuffed to the ground.

"Please," said Winry into the phone receiver, "They haven't come back from their walk...no, neither one of them has, and I'm really worried about them...yes, I understand...yes, I know that Ed hates you...I know, but I'm worried about Al. He only took one bottle of potion with him...Which one? The purple one, I think...no, I don't think he took the amulet this time, uh, nope, I just saw it over on the table...Please, we really need your help...well, we don't know how to track down demons...yeah, we just need you to help us find them...yes, that's all...Oh, thank you so much! Thank you!" She lay the receiver down on its cradle.

"So what did she say?" asked Pinako, coming into the room.

"She said she'd be right over," replied Winry, "I almost thought she wasn't going to come, after the way Ed chased her out last time."

"I couldn't really blame her if she had refused. Any lesser of a person would have been traumatized for life from having a crazed demon chase after you with malicious intents."

"Yeah," Winry rubbed her forehead, "...I still have a hard time thinking of Ed as a demon though...to me, he's still Ed...why did he suddenly turn evil like that, anyway?"

"I think he was just angry about having to suddenly remember things he had tried to forget," said Pinako, "Though I can't say that I truly know what's going through his head."

After a few minutes, they received a knock at their door. Winry opened it to find the same witch lady standing there that Ed had previously chased away from their house. "Come," she said, "I sense something amiss. We must hurry."

Without a word, Winry and Pinako followed the woman as she headed into the woods, following a lead that the others couldn't see.

"I've cast a spell on this amulet that I'm carrying," she explained, holding up the amulet for the others to see. This one was made of crystal. "It is drawn by the energy that Edward gave off...but his energy is faint. That can't be a good sign." Winry gulped and continued to follow the woman. She wasn't sure what to make of it, so she decided to reserve judgement until later. Worry now, kill later, that was her motto.

The three made their way deeper and deeper into the woods, and it was getting quite dark...too dark to see, in fact, since the sun had gone down some time ago, and the light of the moon didn't reach this far into the woods. The woman produced a flashlight, and the three continued on.

Finally, they came to the clearing where the battle had occurred. The woman swept her flashlight around the area and whistled. "Demonic activity certainly occurred here recently. I'd guess that Edward was probably confronted by some other demons."

"Did they do something to him?" Winry asked with more than a hint of concern in her voice. Before the lady could answer, however, Winry tripped over something and fell to the ground. "What...was that?"

The lady shined the flashlight over in Winry's direction, and when Winry saw what it was she had tripped over, she gasped. It was Edward's body.

"Brother!" yelled Al. Finally, Edward turned to face Al. Had he finally heard Al's cry? Ed looked around one last time, and then started to head back to Al. "Brother, why am I in chains? Why did you chain me up?"

Ed snapped back at Al. "I didn't chain you up, idiot!"

Al was a bit taken aback by this response, and approached the subject more carefully the next time. "W-Well then...who did?...And why?"

"I don't know why!" Ed said irritably. Al shivered. Why was Ed acting this way? Sure, he was a demon...but didn't he care in the least little bit about the fact that his little brother was chained to the ground in some foreign location?

Finally, Ed sighed and turned to face Al. "Listen, Al, I'm s-" He was cut off by the shouts of some other demons quickly approaching. Ed stiffened and took a defensive stance as they approached, which the others just laughed at.

"Well, well, well...what have we here?" said one demon as he crossed his arms across his chest. Al was a bit shocked to note that this demon didn't look translucent like the others he had seen. Was he sealed too?

"It looks to me like old Bakanuri(1) has managed to break his seal and return to his homeland...with a pet human even!" He motioned his head towards Al, which made all the other demons nearby laugh...except for Ed.

Edward growled and clenched his fists. "Don't talk about my little brother that way." The demons stopped their laughing and looked at Ed, whose eyes had started glowing again. "And don't call me Bakanuri. I am neither brave nor enlightened, so the name doesn't fit. I am Edward. Edward Elric."

The demons began laughing again at this, and it took awhile for them to regain control of themselves so that one of them could ask, "So, you actually prefer your human name over your demonic name?...Even when in your homeland?" He looked like he was on the verge of laughter again from the way he had this very large, annoying grin plastered over his face.

Edward turned around so that he wouldn't have to look at the demon. "I don't think you're even worth talking to." He turned to Al. "Come on, Al, get up. Let's go."

"B-But Brother," said Al, "I can't...my hands are shackled to the ground!"

Ed let out an irritated sigh and said, "Don't worry about it! Just get up, for goodness' sake!"

"But I can't!"

"Just do it!"

Al winced at the way Ed yelled at him. Ed had sounded really annoyed just then...but then, he had seemed pretty annoyed ever since they'd first appeared in this...world...whatever it was. Those other demons had called it Ed's "homeland". Was that true? Was this the land Ed had originated from? If so, no wonder the demons were angry. This was a terrible place to live, by the looks of it.

The other demons slowly approached Al from behind without either one of the boys noticing until they were right upon him. The leader among them then spoke. "Bakanuri, let us make you a deal. We engage in a fight. If you win, we leave you alone. But, if we win..." The demon held a sinister glare in his eye, "We get to keep the human."

"No!" Ed shouted, "No one touches Al!" At this, he charged at the demon without even thinking of the consequences. The demon that had instigated the challenge started laughing really hard, and Edward realized too late that in charging for the demon, he had unwittingly accepted the challenge by demonic laws. He had no choice but to fight now, or he would have to forfeit the rights to the spoils...in this case, Al.

"I...hate...you!" Edward slowly mouthed out to the other demon, which didn't seem to faze him one bit as he and Edward battled together. They fought together in a sort of street fighting style for awhile, and Edward was quite good at it. However, he had the disadvantage when fighting a demon this way, because he seemed to have forgotten that this battle was between two spirit beings fighting one another, and a physical form of combat would not get very far. He had been human far too long.

The demon began laughing again. "So, I take it that all your time as a human has made you soft? This should be easy then." With that, the demon aimed his palm toward Edward and sent yellow sparks flying out, knocking Edward several yards away. Edward sat up and rubbed his head. That's right, he had to fight like that, not in the way he was used to sparring with Al...and he had never actually won against Al in doing that anyway, so it definitely wasn't the right thing to do.

Ed stood up. "Fine, you've had your fun...but I'll show you that living in a human body does not make one soft." He pointed his finger at the demon and sent yellow sparks flying out of it, throwing the demon several yards away in the opposite direction. However, this only caused the demon to laugh.

"You used to be stronger than that, Bakanuri...I think that you have softened somewhat if you can't hit me any harder than that."

"Stop calling me that! I am Edward Elric!" Edward then swished his arm and sent a wave of energy out at the other demon, knocking him to the ground. The demon still laughed.

"Seriously, if that's all you can do, I'll have that human in no time. Let me show you this little trick I've just recently mastered."

Edward watched as the demon carefully centered himself and then began charging up with a high amount of energy. His eyes widened at the sight. He had seen this technique before. If he were to get hit with a blast from that method, he would be knocked out cold, and the demon would be free to take Al by the laws of their land...there would be nothing he could do about it. No, he had to prevent that. He had to do something quick...but what? He had been Edward Elric too long...he couldn't bring himself to think like Bakanuri anymore...especially since he didn't even want to even be associated with that name anymore.

Edward shut his eyes and tried to think, but nothing came to him. He opened them again and saw the demon continue to charge up, but there wasn't a lot of time left. He turned and looked at Al who was constantly looking between the two of them with a terrified expression on his face. Al didn't even know how to get away, and he was going to fall right into this demon's trap! He couldn't allow that. He couldn't.

The other demon finally unfroze and readied himself into his attack stance. Edward knew the blow was about to come...but what could he do? That amount of energy was very difficult to harness, and he had never mastered the technique. Even if he had, he wouldn't be able to do it in time to save Al. But he had to find some way to protect Al, to shield him...wait, shield! Yes, that was it!

The other demon stretched his fingers so that they were aiming at Edward and the ominous yellow sparks flew out of them once again in a velocity that would easily kill a human and stun a demon. Edward braced himself. He couldn't risk doing this too soon, or the demon might readjust and change his plans, but if he did it too late...

The sparks came closer. Edward squinted his eyes and slowed down time, which was a skill he had mastered quite some time ago. It was one of the reasons that he had been labeled "enlightened", though there were actually many reasons, and that was one of the more insignificant ones.

The sparks were traveling slower now, so Edward took his time and clapped his hands together and then pulled them apart, pulling out a forcefield with the separation of his hands. He carefully bent it so that it bent in toward him, and then let time return to normal.

The next thing the other demon knew, Edward suddenly had this forcefield in front of him bent in a shape that would make all energy ricochet off of it. Too late, he realized what he had done, and there was nothing he could do about it. The energy bounced off of the shield and hurled back at him. Before it hit him, he managed to say, "You're amazing, Bak-Edward. You haven't grown soft at all...merely changed your style...to one of love rather than your old one of hate."

It had been amazing that he had been able to get all those words out before the energy hit him, but he had. Nonetheless, he was out cold in no time from the effects of his own energy coming back at him. Ed had won the fight. Al was safe.

Ed walked over to where Al was still chained, and asked, "Are you okay, Al?" Al nodded hesitantly. "What's the matter?" asked Ed.

Al hesitated. Seeing the concern on Ed's face, he finally let out a breath and said, "It's just that...I still have these chains...and you've been so angry...and this land..."

Ed breathed a sigh of relief that that was all that was troubling Al and half-smiled. "Al, that's all very easy to explain...well, sort of. You see, this is the demon home world. I brought you here so that you would be safe from those demons who were trying to attack you, but it won't do much good unless you learn how to control your thoughts."

"What?" Al was quite confused.

Ed laughed a bit, and continued. "Al, this is an entirely different realm from yours, and it follows different rules. This is an astral plane, actually, so whatever you think becomes reality...And, for some strange reason...a human's thoughts are stronger than those of a demon. That's why I've been so irritated. You don't know how to control your thoughts, yet they're manifesting all over the place, and there's nothing I can do to change any of it."

"What, you mean that I'm causing all of this to be here?" Al asked, bewildered.

Ed nodded. "This particular place was quite beautiful the last time I was here. Apparently though, you don't think that it should be, so you've made it look very unappealing." He scratched the back of his head. "I honestly can't figure out why you'd want a place to look like this though."

Al remained silent at that comment, and dropped his gaze down to his hands. Suddenly remembering they were cuffed, he said, "And my wrists are..."

"...Cuffed by your own free will. I'm sorry if I appeared harsh to you earlier. It's just that I knew that you were the one chaining yourself here...and I guess that I thought you understood that deep down. I'm sorry, I guess that I was wrong."

"B-Brother...can I ask you something?"

"Sure, Al, what is it?"

"Do...Do you...love me?"

Ed choked a bit at the question since he hadn't expected it, but quickly regained his composure and said, "Yes, Al...I do love you. I always have and I always will. I finally came to terms with that when you were about to be taken away from me, and I had to think about what it would be like without you...and I realized that I couldn't live without you. I love you too much...even when I tried to pretend I didn't...I couldn't live without you. I'm sorry for all the hurt I caused you, and for all the rude things I said. I was the idiot...not you."

Al gasped and smiled. "Brother, do you mean that?"

"Every word," said Ed.

Suddenly, the land around turn green and vibrant, and Al's shackles dissolved into thin air.

1: I have this gibberish language I sometimes will just start speaking which I jokingly call "Melissaese", but strangely, it seems to actually fit the structure of a language, though it's nothing like that of English. In "Melissaese", "Bakanuri" means "brave or enlightened one". Yes, it has both "brave" and "enlightened" in the same word. There's no direct translation in English.

**_Hope that you liked that...even when I got weird and decided to use my own Melissa language, hehe. Please leave me a review and tell me what you think. I update when I get reviews...so leave me some reviews, got it? Heh._**


	7. Chapter 7

**_Sigh. I haven't been getting very many reviews lately, which is kind of depressing. I'm going to go cry now. Come on, I'm doing you guys the favor of updating very frequently even if I don't get a satisfactory number of reviews first, the least you could do is review for me...please? (And thank you to those who have been reviewing. I'd be so sad if you weren't. I really appreciate it.) Okay, I admit that I'm exaggerating a bit, and am not literally crying, but seriously, writers need the reviews. They really do. One of my reviewers for some of my other stories even just writes "Cool" and nothing more. That's all I expect, just an acknowledgement. That's really all I want. I like long reviews, but don't expect them._**

Anyway, here's the disclaimer: I own FullMetal Alchemist. No, wait, that's not right! Let's try that again...I...own...Fullmetal...Alchemist. No, no, no, that's not right either. Sigh. Okay, one more time...I...own...oh, wait a minute, duh! No wonder it's not working. The "don't" key is stuck.

"Ed!" shrieked Winry as she promptly jumped up and started to shake Edward's body, trying to cause some sort of movement to occur. "Ed, please...please, wake up!" Tears were rolling down Winry's face in large numbers, but she wiped them away and continued shouting. She knew deep down inside that her efforts were fruitless, after all, Ed's body was quite cold and obviously devoid of life, but she felt she needed to try, regardless.

"Winry," said the witch lady, placing a hand on Winry's shoulder, "It's no use. Please stop crying, I'll do my best to fix this."

"But how can you fix it if...if...if..." Winry couldn't bring herself to admit that the body before her was dead. Apparently, the woman knew what she was trying to say regardless, and knelt down beside her.

"Honey, don't worry so much about him. He didn't die, he merely escaped. Demons don't die. All I have to do is either find him again or lure him in and seal him again. That's my job, after all, to seal demons away so they don't hurt anyone."

Winry nodded, trying to accept it, but tears were still flowing. Suddenly, she sat up straight, remembering something. "Wait a minute, where's Al? Shouldn't he have been with Ed?"

The woman sighed. She knew Winry was going to ask this question sooner or later, and she had really hoped that it wouldn't be asked of her anytime soon. "Winry, dear, I can't answer that question for sure...but it appears that he was...taken...because there is no trace of him anywhere."

"Taken? Where? Is he still alive? How do we get him back?"

"Whoa!" The woman put her hands in front of her body as if to shield herself from the onslaught of questions being directed at her, "I'm not totally sure of anything...but I think he might still be alive. Some demon probably took him to the demon home world."

"What...why? Who would do that to him?"

The woman sighed again and started walking back the direction they came without answering. Winry ran up and grabbed her shoulder and reminded her that she had not answered her question. The woman looked at her, paused for another minute, and then finally said, "I've sealed many demons, most of which are after my life now, but I don't fear any of them...except one. That demon is named Bakanuri...and I think that he is the one that took young Alphonse."

"Brother, can I ask you something?" asked Al, walking beside his brother to nowhere in particular.

"That question sounds familiar," said Ed, "Sure, you can always ask me questions. What did you want to ask?"

"Um...back there, some of those demons were calling you some other name that seemed to make you...kind of upset. I was just wondering...is that some sort of insult or something...that word...Ba-Bak-uh..."

"Bakanuri," Ed finished for Al, "Yes, I did get a little annoyed when they called me that, but it's not an insult...it's my name, my demon name." At this, Al grew a confused look which made Ed chuckle a bit, so he continued to explain. "We have to earn our names, they're not simply dished out at birth like they are for human beings. Our names are based on attributes that they consider applicable to us. 'Bakanuri' means 'brave or enlightened one'. It's a highly respectable name, but I hate it because I earned it from all the hate I had toward human beings in general." Ed clenched his fist. "I still don't like the human race for the most part, but you've helped me to learn that not all human beings are bad. I am neither brave nor enlightened...merely stupid and misguided. I don't deserve the name."

"Brother, you do too deserve the name. Even if you don't consider your actions in the demon world worthy of it, your actions in the human world should more than account for it. You've save my life more times than I can count, and accomplished many things most people can only dream of. You're both brave AND enlightened in my book."

Ed turned to face Al and smiled. "Thanks, I appreciate that." He turned and looked forward again. "I don't think that the name fits me here anymore though. I'll probably have to earn a new one, and it probably won't be a very desirable one, considering how I've...softened...somewhat...and am allowing myself to love a human being." Al grabbed Ed's arm and squeezed it tight.

"Brother, there's nothing shameful in loving someone else. Don't ever let anyone make you feel low or weak because of that."

Ed smiled at Al again, and then said, "Hey, Al, could you do something for me? Could you lift me up so that I can see where we are?...I'm not sure that I recognize this spot we're in."

"Brother, you're bigger than me!"

At this, Ed burst out laughing. When he got control of himself again, he said, "No, silly...remember what I told you? This is an astral plane, so your thoughts become reality. I would lift myself up, but your thoughts are too strong, and they overpower mine."

"Then...you mean that you want me to make you levitate?"

"Yeah."

"...Can I even do that?"

Ed laughed again. "Anything is possible. You just have to believe you can do it, and it'll happen. I've levitated a number of times, actually. It's not that hard to do. You could even lift the both of us up at the same time if you wanted." He extended his hand and took Al's hand in his. "Here, I'll help you by lending you some of my thoughts. Just concentrate."

Ed then closed his eyes, and Al did the same. He tried to imagine him and Ed flying up above the terrain, but wasn't succeeding at getting anywhere. He was about to give up trying when Ed let go of his hand and placed both of his hands on Al's head, bringing it in contact with his own. "Like this," he said. Al's eyes went wide as he was suddenly given a vibrant image of the two of them floating up above the ground. It looked so real...but that thought had felt so foreign. He was sure that it hadn't been his thought. Ed could send him thoughts just by touching his forehead to Al's? That was quite impressive. He never knew Ed could do that.

"Okay, I'll try again." Al once again closed his eyes and grabbed his brother's hand. He tried to recall the image he had just seen. Soon, he began to feel lighter. Was it working? He continued envisioning the two of them floating up above the ground, and he felt his feet lose the ground beneath them. It had to be working. Did he dare open his eyes and look? He wanted to, but...

"Open your eyes," said Ed, tapping Al on the shoulder to alert him, "This is a rare opportunity for you, so you shouldn't be missing it. Feats like this are difficult to perform in your world. It takes a lot more discipline."

Al cautiously opened his eyes and gasped at the amazing view before him. It looked a lot like he was standing at the top of a small mountain, judging by how small everything below looked...but he wasn't standing on anything. A shiver ran down his spine at the thought. This was just too weird.

Ed pointed to something off in the distance. "See that little speck over there on that faraway hill? That's where we need to go. I need to talk to the person that lives there."

"Who lives there?" asked Al.

"Her name is Seteduri. That name means 'one who sees'. She's basically a seer, a fortune-teller if you will. I need to reevaluate the plans I had made before I was sealed, so I'll need a little guidance from her in order to make proper plans."

Al nodded that he understood. While he was curious as to what plans his brother needed to make, he decided that he'd better not pry...not right now, anyway. This wasn't the place or time, particularly since losing his concentration would mean being painfully brought back to reality on the ground below.

Ed looked at Al and offered yet another smile as he said, "Ready to go back down now?" Al nodded and closed his eyes as he slowly worked their way back down until he felt his feet touch the ground again. He opened his eyes and looked around to make sure that Ed was safely down on the ground as well, and was satisfied to find him standing right beside him.

"So, how did I do, Brother?"

"I'd say that you did pretty good," said Ed, ruffling Al's hair. "It's impressive that you can adapt to this kind of environment so well, actually, having been brought up in an environment where you were taught that none of this is possible."

"Well," Al coughed, "None of this is possible in my world."

"Ah..." Ed said as he raised a finger in Al's direction, "On the contrary! Anything is possible in any realm, even yours. It's just harder to do certain things in certain realms because those living there have dictated certain laws that they all follow while being in that realm. They call them 'scientific laws', but science doesn't really apply as much to reality in the way they think as they'd like you to believe."

"Does that mean...that I could levitate in my realm too?" asked Al.

Ed shrugged. "Sure, if you had an open enough mind. Your realm, however, dictates gravity as a scientific law, whereas this one just has it as a default state, not a scientific law. So, it'd be a little more difficult to do there, but it's still possible. It's kind of like here, we have a 'law' I guess you could call it where a human's thoughts are more powerful than a demon's. I could potentially break past that, just as you could with gravity in your realm, but it's not that easy to do."

Al placed his hand under his chin and thought for a minute. "So...if we can break the laws in our respective realms if we so desire...how can we know if what someone's saying is true?"

"You can't," said Ed. He got a far off look in his eyes, and continued to explain, "You have to take what someone says, weigh it in your mind, turn it inside out, and pick through it to decide whether the view is valid for you. If not, throw it out. Reality is different for everyone, that's why it's pointless to try and force your views on someone else."

Al grew quiet as he pondered all of this. He felt he could trust Ed, so he didn't think that he was lying to him...especially since he had just coached him through a levitation session. But what bothered him was the fact that the things Ed told him went against everything he'd ever been taught. How could so many people be wrong? Everyone he met seemed to think that the dull, dry, everyday existence they experienced was the only reality. Since being here, he already knew that statement to be untrue, but the true weight of Ed's words was still a little hard to grasp.

By and by, the two of them came to a stop next to a crystal blue lake that even had a small waterfall running into it. Al couldn't have picked a better place to stop and rest, so the two sat atop a fallen log and looked out over the pristine body of water. In spite of all the weird things this world had shown him thus far, this lake calmed him just from the sight of it. It was a relief to finally experience something...normal.

Al's stomach growled. Ed heard it and asked if Al wanted to eat something while they were resting. Al said that yes, he did indeed want to eat, but he wanted to eat in some "normal" way so that he wouldn't have to spoil the illusion of normalcy that he was enjoying while resting here. Ed laughed and said, "I've got just the thing."

Edward then stood up and walked over to some nearby trees and loaded his arms up with some sort of large, juicy fruit that was growing on them. He came back to Al, and said, "I'm sorry that this fruit isn't exactly what you're used to from your world...but I'm hoping that it'll still help you to keep the illusion of normalcy so that you can relax."

Al smiled and took one of the large fruits. "Thanks, Brother, I'm sure that it'll work fine." He bit into it and was surprised to find how juicy it was. It kind of took him by surprise, since the juice was running down his chin...but, he had to admit, it was quite normal for a very ripe piece of fruit to behave like that.

Ed sat beside Al on the log and took a piece of fruit for himself. "One thing I'd always regretted about living in your realm was that it never had any fruit like this. This is the first time I've been able to enjoy one of these since I've been sealed."

Al smiled and was eagerly devouring his piece of fruit. It was definitely different than anything he'd ever tasted, as it tasted something like a combination between a peach and an orange...but he really liked it, just the same. "What do you call these, Brother?"

"They call these fruits 'shitana'. That basically means 'yellow-orange fruit'."

"Wow...well, I really like this stuff, Brother."

Ed smiled again. "I'm glad that you do. This is actually my favorite kind of fruit. It's nice that I can finally share it with my best friend." At this, Al smiled too.

Finally, the two boys finished their fruit and were looking around. Ed reached back and pulled the tie out of his hair to redo his braid, since it had gotten a bit frizzy as of late. "Oh, let me do that, Brother." Al reached over and took the hair tie from Ed's hand before Ed even had a chance to respond and began braiding his hair. Ed chuckled, which caused Al to wonder why, but Ed just waved it off as nothing.

"So, Brother...do you know the name of that demon that was fighting with you back there when I was still chained to the ground?"

Ed started laughing really hard, which made it difficult for Al to keep ahold of Ed's braid, but he still managed to hold onto it until Ed calmed down. "Yes, I knew his name." Ed sniffed from the tears that were threatening to surface from his laughter as he continued. "His name is Demoniy." With that, he started laughing again.

"That sounds a lot like our word for 'demon'," said Al.

"It IS the word for demon," said Ed, "It's just the generic word being applied to him as a name. In other words, he's thought pretty low of, not even being able to earn a name that at least sets him apart from all the others."

Even Al had to laugh at this, and he shook his head. Demonic politics were amusing to say the least, and it seemed pretty funny that they would just call some demon by the name of what he was. That did seem pretty insulting.

"...So," Ed continued, "If you ever run into him again...please don't call him by his name!" Ed burst out laughing again just thinking about it. Al laughed again as well. He understood that if you were to make a demon mad, he might attack you, so he agreed not to call him by his name...but the thought of it was funny, he had to admit.

When Al finished, he asked his brother how he liked it, so that he could know if he should redo the braid or not. Ed reached back and felt the braid for a few seconds, seeming to be a little more particular about it than he normally was when someone else braided his hair. Finally, he said, "It's perfect, Al. That braid will last me forever now."

Al was about to ask Ed what he meant by that, but Ed caught the questioning look on his face before he could even ask, so he explained. "The whole 'human thoughts stronger than demon thoughts' law applies here too. Once a human styles a demon's hair, it'll stay that way until said human being changes it. It gets even worse if I go back to your realm, for some reason."

"Did I do something wrong?" asked Al.

Ed shook his head. "Not at all. Now I won't have to worry about constantly keeping my hair under control, because not even one hair will come undone now. If I ever want to change it, all I have to do is ask you. It's actually nice that I won't have to worry about it anymore."

"Well," Al chuckled nervously, "I'm glad that you don't mind it, Brother. I didn't realize that 'law' thing applied there too."

Ed stood up and stretched his arms. "I don't mind a bit, Al. I'm glad that you did it. Now, come along, we should really get going. We have a long way to go still."

"Right," said Al, standing up and falling into step beside Ed. This world was quite different from his, but his brother was (almost) the same as ever, and so he felt safe. As long as he was able to be with Ed, he would be happy, no matter where he was.

"Hey, Al," said Ed, giving Al a slap on the shoulder, "See that big ol' tree down there a ways in front of us? I'll race you there!" With that, he took off running without another word.

"Hey, wait for me!" Al laughed, and then took of running after his brother.

**_Hope that you liked that chapter. Please leave me some reviews and tell me your thoughts. Happy authors update faster. You don't want me to hold off a day like I did on Sunday, do you? (evil snicker) Now please, review! (smiles sweetly) Thank you and have a nice day._**


	8. Chapter 8

**_Finally! I got a decent amount of reviews! Thank you all! Hehehe...that makes me feel better. Sorry that I took so long to get this chapter out. I just got the internet on at my house...and well, I guess that I got a little excited and carried away that I could continue using it even after the library was closed...so, um, yeah, heh. Well, hey, I still got this out during MY same day, right? (Yes, I know, I stay up really late. Sigh. Just a habit.) I'll try to get the next chapter out a little earlier than I got THIS one, hehe. Sorry about that. At least we now know that I can upload any time of the day or night! Yeah!_**

Disclaimer: Wow, my disclaimers are really being liked lately. That's quite a compliment when a disclaimer is mentioned in a review, hehe. Hmmm...let's see. I'm tired now, so I'm not sure how creative my disclaimer will be. Anyway, I'll issue this disclaimer first: I was tired while writing the second half of this chapter, because I waited longer than I should have before writing it, so don't be too mean...but I hope that you'll like it anyway.

Disclaimer disclaimer: That last disclaimer was kind of pointless, because since I'm posting this so late, you probably already knew that I was tired, right?

Disclaimer disclaimer disclaimer: Ignore that last disclaimer. It was pointless.

Disclaimer disclai...

Ed: Give me that laptop back! (swipes it out of my hands) You didn't let me finish what I was trying to say in "Me in this Android Body" so I'm not going to let you finish here.

Me: But that's mean! That's MY laptop!

Ed: It's not as mean as putting your poor readers through an infinite number of disclaimers!

Me: What about you and your list of things that annoy you?

Ed: What about you and your long author notes? (Melissa growls, Ed sighs) Anyway people, she doesn't own me. I don't think she's going to get around to saying it this time, so I'll just say it for her. Melissa doesn't own me!

Me: (tackles Ed) Give me back my laptop!

Ed: Help! Help! I'm being repressed!

"Finally, we're here," said Ed, walking up to a building that Al couldn't tell whether it was a tent or a house...but of course, with this being an astral plane, it could have easily been both.

"We've arrived..." Al panted, out of breath, "...At the seer's house?" He raised his right hand and wiped away the sweat dripping off of his forehead.

Ed waved his hand in front of his face as if to try and fan himself. "It's a little hot, Al..." Noticing that Al wasn't catching onto what he was trying to get at, he looked straight at Al and said, "Since you're suffering so much from the heat, why don't you cool it down a bit?"

"Wha-oh yeah!" said Al, smacking himself on the forehead for not having thought of that before. It was going to take him quite some time to get used to being in this astral plane with different rules, that's for sure. He closed his eyes to concentrate, and soon the temperature began to drop and a light breeze picked up. He opened his eyes again and looked to Ed for confirmation.

"Phew, that's better," said Ed, "I'm still not used to not being able to do it myself...but I guess that I'll get used to it sooner or later." With that, he smiled at Al, and then turned and walked into the tent/house. Al followed right behind him.

Al let out a gasp in awe of the place as soon as he had stepped inside. It looked a lot bigger on the inside than it did on the outside. How could that be possible? He placed his hands on his temples and muttered to himself, "Relax, Al, this is just an astral plane. Weirder stuff than this can happen, it's not that big of a deal." Al released his temples and looked up and around at the place, trying to figure out what they were supposed to do next. "Where do we go now, Brother?"

Edward shrugged. "Until she lets us in, I honestly can't say."

"Until she lets us in?" Al asked.

Just then, a hole appeared in one of the walls out of nowhere, and widened until it formed a complete door. Al's eyes widened too, in shock. "Come on, Al," said Ed, "She just let us in." Ed grabbed Al's hand and led him through the newly formed door, which closed back up as soon as the two had gone through it.

The two boys were standing in the dark. They couldn't see anything at all, not even each other. "Where are we, Brother?"

"Shh!"

Al took the hint and just waited to see what would happen. Soon, the two heard a strange woman's voice cut through the darkness. "Bakanuri, and the human child Alphonse..." The woman stopped, leaving the two boys to just stare and wonder what else she would say...what else she knew.

"You have come seeking my guidance about a critical matter involving the relationship between the demonic and human races..."

Al gasped at this statement. Was Ed really planning something that important...and yet, he hadn't told him anything about it?

"...Yet young Alphonse at present knows nothing about the current situation. Do you wish him to remain here while I advise you? If he remains, he will become aware of everything."

A pause, then another voice responds. "Yes," said Edward, "I want him to stay. I won't do anything without his involvement anymore. I need to reevaluate my plans."

"...Because you no longer desire to destroy the human race..." said the seer.

"No, I don't."

"...You desire peace and harmony between the two races..."

"Yes."

Suddenly, the lights went on, and the boys found themselves standing in a small room with a table centered in the middle of it covered in a blue-gray cloth. On the table was a small crystal ball. The seer, Seteduri, was sitting behind the table. She portrayed the stereotypical concept of a fortune teller.

Seteduri then raised up her hands and positioned them just alongside the crystal ball without actually touching it, and gazed deeply into it. "I see many things unfolding in your future. There is much more war, strife, pain, and sorrow in store for you and those you have come to love in the human world. I see your new plans nearly coming to fruition...but one woman stands in your way...She holds the power to completely thwart all your plans, and she will try, but if you kill her, you will lose all your human allies, and you will fail...I see...in the end...a bittersweet victory...you establish a better relationship between the races...but you lose something that you cherish."

Ed clenched his fist. "And what is this thing that I'll lose?"

"It is not clear," said Seteduri, "However, the future has not been written yet...you still may change the path you are going on...but be careful that you don't thwart your own plans in the process."

"But...how do I know which path to take?"

The woman paused, and then said, "Let your heart guide you, and let those inside your heart guide you. I see a lot of good in you...a very unusual trait in a demon...let it guide you, and you'll meet victory...let your demonic side guide you.."

"...And I'll meet with failure," Ed finished for her. "But, tell me, Seteduri, is there anything...not vague...that you can tell me? Something precise? Something to get me going in the right direction?"

"The telling of fortunes is not a precise art," said Seteduri, "But I can tell you this...your first step should be to go back to the human world and win those you love over to your side. Without their support, you won't be able to gain any others to your side."

Ed scratched his head. "Go back to the human world, huh? But then, how do I protect Al?"

"Follow your heart. It will guide you."

Ed took a deep breath and let it out. He was trying not to be too pushy, since this woman wouldn't be able to give very detailed information, being that fortune telling just wasn't a very precise art, as she said, but he wished that he could get a little bit less vague information at times.

"Well, thank you for your time-" Ed began, only to be cut off.

"Oh, and one more thing, Bakanuri...I can see young Alphonse with you...forever...never leaving your side..."

Ed raised an eyebrow. Yes, he knew that Al followed him wherever he went, no matter what. That was just the nature of their relationship, so what was the point of telling him that? He thanked her anyway, and was about to turn around when he suddenly found himself and Al to be outside of the tent.

"Well...that was weird," said Al.

"You're telling me?" said Ed, "She's always like that, but yes, she is a bit weird."

Al rubbed his hair as if pondering something, and then said, "Brother, how did we get out of that tent...house...whatever it was...anyway? I don't remember even taking a step towards getting out."

Ed chuckled. "Oh, she probably just let us out like she had let us in. This IS an astral realm, Al, you need to think beyond the three-dimensional existence you were raised in." Al continued to scratch his head and he nodded, though it was obvious that he was still a bit perplexed at the whole thing.

Ed thrust his hands into his pockets and paced around for a few minutes, not bothering to talk. He kicked a few pebbles out of the path that just happened to have been so unfortunate as to get in his way. Al ran up to Ed and asked if he was okay, which of course Ed told him that he was, only to have Al persist in asking him again and grab ahold of his arm to force him to answer properly.

Ed sighed. "I'm fine, Al, you don't need to worry about me. It's just that Seteduri said I should go back to the human world in order to gain the trust of those I loved before moving on to accomplish whatever else I needed to try...but I'm worried about your safety...how do I protect you if I take you back to the human world?"

Al smiled. "Brother, I can take care of myself. Just because I'm not a demon doesn't mean I'm weak. I've been with you all the time that you were in a human body and went through everything you did. All those experiences were hard on both of us, but it made me strong. I can handle whatever life dishes out to me."

"I'm not worried about what life dishes out to you, Al," said Ed, "I'm worried about those other demons. They sure have a strong desire to kill you...and I have no idea why. They don't normally want to kill anyone that badly." Ed hung his head in sadness at the thought.

Al reached out his hand and lifted his brother's chin up to look into his eyes. "Brother, they probably just want to kill me because you love me, and they consider it to be a weakness for a demon to love a human. Don't let their actions get to you. Love isn't a weakness...it's a strength. Your desire to have both our races get along better than they do is too important to let something like this come between it."

Ed stared at Al in silence. He breathed and exhaled rapidly a couple times, and Al could tell that Ed's body was trying to let out a couple sobs, but his mind was trying to hold it in. So, Al wrapped his arms around his brother and said, "It's okay, Brother. Whatever happens, it's okay." At this, the floodgates broke, and Ed began crying.

Sometime later, after Ed finally was able to calm down, the two boys suddenly appeared out of nowhere in the same dark part of the forest they had left sometime before. Ed looked around and noticed that his body had been removed from the area. He clenched his fist at the thought. He would have to be careful. If they carefully preserved his body, he could be sealed back in the same one, and it wouldn't be so easy to keep himself from remembering, since it wouldn't be the body of an unborn child he was being sealed into.

"Come on, Al, let's go." Ed started walking, but Al reached out his hand to grab him, and found that his hand went through his brother, so he called to him to stop instead. Ed stopped and turned to look at Al. "What's the matter?"

"Brother," said Al, walking up to Ed, "Winry and Auntie aren't going to just readily accept you like this. Look at you, you're completely spirit in this realm, and even somewhat translucent! I can't interact with you the same way I did back in your world. They'll know the instant they look at you that you broke free from your seal, and they'll call that witch lady to come and seal you again."

Ed looked off into the distance. "You know, Al, you're absolutely right. Thank you." He then closed his eyes and concentrated for a few moments. Slowly, but surely, he began to lose his translucence, and started to grow more opaque. Finally, he opened his eyes again. "Al, touch me and see if you can interact properly with my body."

Al reached out his hand to try and touch Ed, and found that found that his hand indeed made contact with solid matter. "Yes, Brother, I can feel you. How did you do that?"

"Practice," said Ed, "They didn't call me 'Bakanuri' for nothing." He grinned, and Al smiled back. "Now come on, let's go...home." The two then set out to go to the Rockbells' house.

Soon they were standing on the steps at the Rockbells' front door. Ed took a deep breath and then let it back out. He wasn't sure what to expect, since Winry and Pinako obviously knew he was a demon by now...and they might even know that he'd broken past his seal. This could potentially be a very bad meeting unless he could come up with a really good cover story that they'd believe.

Ed reached up and knocked on the door, and waited. He turned to Al and said, "Remember the drill. Find out what they know before you say anything. If they know I broke the seal, try to play along that I've been sealed again, so that they don't call that witch to seal me again."

"Right. Gotcha," said Al.

The door swung open to reveal a very startled Winry at the sight before her. She didn't say anything for a few moments. When she finally regained her voice, she said, "Al?...and (gulp)...Ed?"

Ed put up his hand and waved it around while saying, "Don't worry, Winry, I'm not angry anymore. I just had some issues to work out...but I'm fine now, really."

"Uhhh...right..." she said uneasily, then turned her attention to Al, "Where were you guys? We were so worried! You've both been gone for several days!"

"Several days, are you serious?" asked Al. Winry just nodded.

"She was right...you were taken to the demon home world...weren't you?" Winry choked out the last words like they were painful.

Al got a sympathetic expression on his face. "Um...yes, I was...but it's really not as bad as all that...it's pretty amazing there, actually."

Winry then pointed to Ed. "And he is..."

"Sealed again." Ed crossed his arms to drive home the point. Heck, if she knew about Al being taken to the demon home world, then she had to know about his having broken his seal.

"You're...He's sealed again?" said Winry, turning from Ed to Al for confirmation of Ed's words. Al hesitantly nodded. He hated lying, especially to Winry, but he saw no other way of getting her to let Ed in the house to explain things. She'd find out the truth soon enough. He just hoped that she'd continue to trust him after this, since he'd never lied to her before.

"Um...okay...won't you...come in?" Nervous Winry stepped out of the way of the door and ushered the boys in. She was obviously quite jittery, but Al couldn't blame her for being that way with all that had happened. Neither could Ed, for that matter. They only hoped that this meeting work work they way they'd planned, and not backfire on everyone involved.

**_Hmmm...so Ed thinks he's being repressed? Do you know how they repress people in Alice in Wonderland? Heh heh heh...they stick the person in a burlap sack and then sit on it! Muahahahahahahahaha!_**

Ed: Mmmph!

Me: Anyway, review and I'll let Ed out.


	9. Chapter 9

**_Hi, everyone! Sorry that it took me so long to get this one out. (Yeah, one day late and I'm apologizing for how long it took me, hehe. Okay, yes, I know, I'm crazy.) I also want to apologize for writing a short chapter and for the fact that there's not a lot of action in this one. This part of the story had to be told, regardless, but the next chapter should be more exciting, so don't kill me too much, okay? Hehe._**

Disclaimer: Hmmm...a reviewer came and set Ed free from the burlap sack I had him in, so I guess that I can't threaten you guys with that this time. Oh wait, the disclaimer has nothing to do with threatening the readers to review! (smacks head) Hmmm...well...as logical as it would be for me to own FullMetal Alchemist, I don't.

Ed: It's not logical, you goofball! I'M the FullMetal Alchemist! You don't believe in slavery, do you?

Me: Um...no?

Ed: There, you see? She admits it! She doesn't own me!

Ed and Al walked straight into the living room. Ed sat down on the couch right away, but Al lingered. "Is there something wrong, Al?" asked Winry, giving him a concerned look.

Al flinched. He really felt guilty for not telling Winry anything. "U-Um...well...i-it's just that we really need to talk."

"Okay, I'll leave you two alone," said Winry, starting to leave the room. Al quickly grabbed her arm.

"No, I meant that we need to talk to you and Auntie."

Winry nodded her understanding. "Okay, let me go and get Granny then. We'll be right back." Al let go of her arm and sat down on the couch next to Ed, fidgeting with his hands. Winry left the room.

"Brother, how are we supposed to pull this off? What if they won't accept you in this form? What if..."

Ed clapped his hand across Al's mouth. "Stop worrying so much, Al; you're just borrowing trouble. We're just going to have to wing it and hope for the best. There's nothing else we can do."

Al managed to pull his mouth away from Ed's hand, and said, "But what if-"

Ed replaced his hand across Al's mouth, and reiterated what he was trying to say. "Listen, Al, we're just going to have to trust them, trust who they are. Don't you trust them?"

Al nodded his head and muttered a muffled "Yeah, but..."

"No, 'buts', Al. Look, even though it may not look it to you, this realm of yours is an astral realm just as much as mine is. If you persist in worrying, you're going to make the bad things you think about happen."

Al then looked down at the ground. Ed removed his hand from Al's mouth since it was apparent that Al had finally gotten the message. "I'm sorry, Brother...I'll try not to worry."

"Good," said Ed, patting Al on the back, "Don't."

Winry and Pinako finally walked back into the room and sat down. "So, what is it that you needed to talk about with us?" said Pinako with a puff of her pipe.

Ed and Al both looked down at the ground and watched their feet playing with the dust on the floor. How were they to get this message across? Which approach were they to take?

Fortunately, Winry broke the silence for them so that they didn't have to think so hard. "So, Al, what exactly is the demon home world like, or does it bother you too much to tell me?"

Al looked up at her and smiled a weak little smile. "No, it doesn't bother me to tell you about it. It's actually a pretty cool place. Everything that you think about there actually happens. I was able to change the landscape and the temperature...even levitate, just from thinking about it!"

"Wow..." said Winry, in thought, "If they have such an amazing world...why do they try to hurt human beings?"

Ed coughed in response, and all eyes turned to him. His hands shook. He obviously didn't like this subject, but there was no alternative to discussing this, especially considering his plans. "Um...well..." he began, "It goes way back to the first attempts at demons ever entering this realm...Once human beings found out how to subdue them, by sealing them...they apparently decided that they could exploit them in whichever way they pleased, since they weren't 'human'. This made those remaining in the demon world angry, and they tried to free their comrades, and so the war between humankind and demonkind began."

Everyone was staring at Ed in disbelief. How could it be possible that human beings were the ones responsible for the strong tension between the two races? However, one look at Ed convinced them that he was not making this up, as tears were running down his face in rapid succession, and his shoulders were having spasms from his sobs. Whatever was the case, it obviously bothered Ed greatly.

Ed finally turned and looked up at everyone, but he was trembling. "Auntie, Winry...when I first came here, I had plans of destroying the human race. Fortunately for all of you, I got sealed that time, since I indeed had enough power to destroy the world. But now," he wiped his hand against his face to wipe away the tears that were flowing. Winry gasped at the sight. "But now," he said again, "I only want peace between the races. I've had a change of plans. I need help, lots of help..."

He wasn't allowed to finish his statement, for Winry interrupted. "Edward...your auto-mail, it's...it's..." She was pointing frantically at the arm Ed had used to wipe his face, causing everyone else to look in his general direction. It was true. Ed no longer had auto-mail. A spirit being had no need of it. Winry looked up at him with tears in her eyes. "You...You haven't been resealed...You're a full-fledged demon...And yet you were pretending to be sealed so that you could get into the house...You...You...You and Al...lied to me!"

"Winry...wait..." cried Al, but it was no use. Winry had already jumped up and ran out of the room. Following his intuition, Ed jumped up too and followed her. It was just as he had thought: she had run straight to the telephone, and was no doubt calling that witch woman to come and seal him again. He couldn't allow that, not now.

Ed concentrated and squinted his eyes. He needed just a few more seconds in order to get himself over to the phone and get it out of her hand, that was all he needed. Everyone's movements slowed down to a pace he could handle, and he ran over to the phone and grabbed it out of Winry's hand just before the time went back to normal.

The next thing that Winry knew, the phone was no longer in her hand, and Ed was standing in front of her, giving her a pleading look. She hadn't expected that look from him. She had expected an angry look for trying to call someone to seal him away, not a pleading look like he was giving her. Winry dropped her hands to her sides. "F-Fine...I'll give you a chance to explain yourself...but you'd better have a good reason for lying to me!" With that, she marched past Ed back into the living room. Ed shook his head and carefully set the phone receiver back on its cradle.

Before long, the two of them were back in the living room. Winry was crying bitterly, so Al came over and tried to console her, apologizing profusely for lying to her about Ed's being sealed, but she wouldn't be comforted. Al guessed that she was probably afraid somewhat...understandably since Ed HAD attacked her when he had first found out that he was a demon.

Ed came over to where Winry was sitting, and knelt down in front of her. "Winry, I'm sorry. I've had a change of heart since I first found out I was a demon. Demons do have hearts, whether you want to believe that or not. I won't attack you again." He paused for a moment, and then continued, "And please don't blame Al for lying to you...I told him to do it. It was my fault."

Winry continued to cry. She really was scared, that was obvious, but it was impressive that she was still in the same room as Ed and hadn't tried to run out again. That meant that she was at least putting forth an effort to understand. Ed gave the smallest indication of a smile and said, "Here, Winry, maybe this will help a bit."

Ed placed his hand on Winry's forehead and closed his eyes. After a moment, his hand started glowing with a yellow light. Both Al and Pinako's eyes went wide, wondering what he was doing. He soon removed his hand from Winry's forehead, and she turned and looked at him. After blinking a couple times to remove the remaining tears from her eyes, she threw her arms around Ed and whispered, "Thank you."

Al and Pinako were both taken aback at the sudden change in attitude. "What did you do to her, Brother?"

"Nothing," said Ed, "All I did was lend her a little calming energy, I didn't change her in any way...not that I could even if I wanted to, since she's such a free spirit." He smiled and both Al and Winry chuckled. Yes, Winry was indeed a free spirit, no one could deny that.

Winry tightened her embrace on the demon, and said, "Ed, I trust you. You're the same person I always knew. Now that I realize that, I trust you." She then let go of him and placed her hands on his shoulders so that she could push him back and look into his eyes. "But please, next time you have something big to tell me, just tell me the truth, don't lie to me, okay?"

Al quickly agreed, even though he wasn't the one being directly spoken to, but Ed coughed and slowly nodded. Winry looked concerned. "Ed, what else are you hiding from me? You can tell me, you know...I want you to tell me!"

Ed looked back into her eyes. "Well...it's just that I'm not sure how you'll react, since you've been hanging around with that witch woman for all this time...you might have heard her mention the name..."

"A demon name?" asked Winry. Ed nodded. Winry thought for a moment, and then said, "Well, she did mention the name of one demon that she was actually afraid of...Ba...Baka...nuri. Yeah, I think that was it."

Ed and Al turned and looked at each other. Al gulped and looked back at Winry. "Winry...Bakanuri is...is Brother."

**_Hope that you liked that chapter at least a little bit. I won't pester you for reviews this time, since it wasn't as exciting, although they're still welcome. Look forward to the next chapter soon._**


	10. Chapter 10

**_Sorry that it took me a few days to get this out. I wanted to make sure that I had enough inspiration to write a good chapter. Besides, one of my reviewers seems to think this story is fading, so I just had to prove her wrong, hehehe. Thanks for your help, SakuraSagura!_**

Edward stood in front of a mirror. In irritation at the fact that it wasn't showing his growth as much as he knew it should, he moved to punch it. However, instead of breaking it, he accidentally pulled his double out of it. Oops.

"Hey, what're you..."

"...doing here?" finished the double.

"Hey, I was..."

"...asking you!" the double said again.

The original Ed got mad at this and yelled, "Shut up and don't..."

"...finish my lines!"

Both Eds sighed. They were getting nowhere, and this was getting annoying. Finally, they both looked up at each other, took a deep breath, and decided to try to say the same thing at the same time.

"Look, this situation will obviously take a while to fix," they both said, "So why don't we just give the disclaimer now so that the readers can be entertained while we find a solution to this problem?"

They both nodded, and then turned to face the readers. "Melissa doesn't own me...us...so don't even ask...just read and enjoy the story.

The Eds then turned and walked away, muttering something about this possibly taking more than one disclaimer to fix and simultaneously shaking their heads.

Silence once again rained down upon them as every locked stares with each other, waiting for someone to budge. Everyone seemed to be afraid to move, for fear of making the situation worse. Winry was visibly shivering, obviously unsure of what to make of this new information. Edward...Bakanuri? The only demon that the woman feared? How could that be possible?

Just then, the phone rang. Everyone exchanged a quick glance to try and decide whether anyone should answer it, and if so, who. Finally, Edward stood up. "I'll get it...you guys just...relax, I guess."

He left the room and picked up the phone. "Hello, Rockbell residence...C-Colonel Mustang?...Uh, well, uh yeah...I'm sorry, I haven't been able to report back to you...no, we did find the demon...but it's a bit...complicated...I'm sorry, I can't explain it further right now...I'll explain it all to you later, goodb-"

His words were cut off in mid-sentence, because right then, the front door was kicked in, and in walked the witch woman. "Bakanuri...I knew that I sensed you back here. You can't hide from me."

Edward slowly placed the phone back on the table, but didn't bother to replace it in the cradle. He narrowed his eyes and looked at her. "Emily Dunham...I thought I had told you never to set foot into this house again!"

With that, he charged at her, raising one of his hands up and beginning to let it glow. The witch woman, now known as Emily Dunham, braced herself and stepped aside just as he was about to hit her. He tripped and fell over, but was quickly back up on his feet, ready to come at her again.

Emily was quicker than he was, however, and pointed her wand at him, muttering some unintelligible gibberish. Instantly, he froze in place, only being able to move his head. "W-What did you do?" he said with a note of fear making its way into his voice.

Emily smacked her wand in her other hand a few times while grinning at her accomplishment. "I simply paralyzed you temporarily. It will wear off in a few minutes. It's too bad I can't just go and seal you like this, but the two spells would get in the way of each other."

Edward growled. "Why do you want to seal me so desperately? You and I both know that the only way for me to have broken your spell was for me to love someone enough to overcome it, and I did so. What is so fearful about a demon that is capable of loving?"

Now it was Emily's turn to narrow her eyes and glare at Edward. "You lie. No demon is capable of loving. Someone simply killed you and let you out, you didn't break the spell."

Edward struggled frantically against the spell that held him captive, but to no avail. How dare this woman tell him he could not love, when it was so obvious that he did? "You idiot, there was no physical harm done to my body that would warrant my escape! Didn't you see that?"

The two continued to go back and forth, though neither one of them was really winning the argument...not like an argument between a demon and a witch COULD be won...but all the same, they tried.

Taking advantage of the distraction, Winry got up out of the living room and made her way over to the phone. Picking it up and putting it to her ear, she whispered, "Colonel Mustang?"

"Is this Miss Rockbell?"

Winry nodded, then remembered that he couldn't see her nodding, so simply answered "Yes".

Colonel Mustang sighed. "Please tell me that what I think I'm hearing over there is not what's really going on."

Winry pressed the receiver closer to her ear and continued to whisper. "W-What are you hearing?" She didn't want to tell him anything that he didn't already know...but at the same time, he should know...and this was just too hard to decide upon.

"I seem to be recognizing the two voices in the background as belonging to Emily Dunham and Edward Elric. Am I correct?"

Winry gulped and said, "Yes, you're correct."

"And am I also correct in that she is addressing him as if he were a demon, and he is responding to it?"

Winry looked down at the floor and sighed. She didn't want to tell him any of this, not when it concerned her best friend, even if he was a demon.

There was silence on the other end of the line for a moment, and then Roy spoke up again. "It is the case, isn't it? Edward Elric is the demon we've been looking for, and he just recently found out who he really was."

At this, Winry started crying. She hadn't realized that this was affecting her so badly, but it apparently was. She wished that things could just go back to normal...well, as normal as it ever got around this place with the boys around.

Edward turned from his argument with Emily Dunham and looked towards Winry. "Winry, what are you...please don't cry over me...please!" With one last push, he broke himself free of the paralysis spell and ran over to Winry to try and console her, leaving a very startled witch back at the location where he had previously been.

"There is absolutely no way..."

Edward turned around and glared at her. "There is no way for a demon to love? All your spells seem to be able to be overcome by love...that alone should prove my point." The woman continued to glare at Edward, but didn't move a muscle. Edward returned the stare, and his eyes began to glow. "Now, if you don't get out of this house right now, you'll regret that I know your name."

His eyes were now glowing so brightly that one could barely see his pupils anymore. It was obvious to any observer that he really hated this woman with a passion. The woman took the hint, and started for the door. "I will leave you for now, Bakanuri..." She flipped her hair and turned to look at him, "But don't get too settled...I will be back." With that, she left and slammed the door behind her.

Edward then turned to Winry who was still crying. "Winry, I'm so sorry I brought all this upon you. I wish I had found out about who I was BEFORE I had come here, then you wouldn't have become so burdened with it..." He paused for a moment to regain his composure, and then wrapped his arms around Winry as he said, "Winry, I love you. I always have and I always will, even if you can't bring yourself to love me in return. Even if you believe that I'm incapable of loving...I love you."

Winry began to cry into Ed's shoulder, and Ed in return held her close, just trying to soothe her. Both of them had completely forgotten about the phone that still rested on the table.

Colonel Mustang frowned and hung up the phone. He placed his elbows on the table and rested his chin on his hands in a position that was conducive to thinking. "So, the FullMetal Alchemist is also the demon Bakanuri...this can't be good...isn't that a highly feared demon? Emily Dunham thinks so, at least."

He sighed and slouched a bit in his chair, trying to take all of this in. "He apparently has also broken his seal...which makes him even more dangerous, since his powers are now unfettered. I seriously fear for the human race with that demon on the loose. Something needs to be done."

"Something shall be done, Colonel Roy Mustang."

Roy looked up in surprise to see a man standing before his desk. "How did you get in here without my knowledge? Who are you?"

The man leaned forward and took the Colonel by the chin. "My identity isn't important...yours however, is."

"Wh-What do you want? I demand that you state your business and leave!" Roy was trying so hard to keep his fear concealed, but it really wasn't that easy to do. Quite frankly, he was terrified, and this other man seemed to see it, because he started laughing.

"You want the demon Bakanuri defeated, don't you?" said the man, leaning in even closer to Roy's face, which made him extremely uncomfortable to have him in such close proximity. No one except certain choice women were allowed to get that close to his face. "I will see to it that he is defeated and sealed. You can count on it."

Without another word of warning, the man grabbed Roy by the neck, and with more strength than seemed to befit the man, flipped the Colonel over onto the floor, so that he was lying helplessly on his back.

"Now, I only consider it fair to let you see my true nature before..." The man started laughing evilly. Roy gasped as the man before him suddenly became translucent, revealing the fact that he too was a demon.

"Before what? What do you want with me?" Roy's fear was quite evident now. There was no hiding it from this demon, so he quit trying to conceal it. The demon just laughed again.

"You'll soon see..."

Roy flinched. He really didn't like the sound of that.

The demon then lay down on top of Roy. Roy gasped for breath, as it felt like the breath was literally being pushed out of him...but this was a non-physical being...how was that possible? The demon pressed down even harder, and Roy was about to let out a scream...if not from discomfort, then to at least alert someone in the building as to what was happening, but the demon clapped a hand over Roy's mouth and continued to press even harder.

Roy was feeling really uncomfortable now. The feeling from the demon pressing into him was just...not right...there was something scary going on...something he couldn't quite place. The harder the demon pressed into him, the more this feeling persisted and grew until he began to feel dizzy.

Finally, the feeling changed, and he didn't feel quite as overwhelmed, so he sat up and looked around. The demon had gone apparently...but what? What had he wanted anyway? Suddenly Roy began having muscle spasms, and he looked down at his body. He gasped. It looked like there was something or someone else moving underneath his skin!

He was about to scream when this other force clamped his mouth shut from inside. (I wouldn't try anything funny, Colonel. You'll only make things worse for yourself.)

Roy had been scared before, but now he was downright terrified. He could tell that the voice what coming from inside his head...but how? Had he just been possessed? Demon possessed?

(You are quite perceptive, Roy. You have just figured it out.) Roy cringed. No...he couldn't take this. He had to get out of this situation somehow...but why did this demon even want him? Didn't they hate to be bound in a body?

(I am by no means 'bound' in this body. I can leave anytime, but I don't plan on it anytime soon. It's quite cosy in here, actually. Your identity is necessary for our plan to defeat Bakanuri to work.)

(I won't be a part in any of your plans!) Colonel Mustang shouted back, though he could only do it through thought, since this demon was controlling his movements. (I won't cooperate, no matter what you try!)

The demon sighed. (I figured as much...which just means that I'll have to expel you.) Roy gasped. No...no, this couldn't be... The demon laughed again, and said, (You know, you would've been better off trying to help Bakanuri than trying to defeat him...he's trying to bring peace between the races...but now there's no chance for him to do so...not without your help.)

The demon laughed again and Roy once again felt pressure begin to build up, but it was coming from inside of him this time. No. If this demon did what he said he was going to do...if he expelled him from his own body...that would mean that he was going to die! No! He couldn't die, not yet!

(So long, Colonel!) The pressure suddenly spiked, causing Roy to get dizzy once again, and he felt himself being pushed from his body. Roy tried to fight it, but it was no use...his body had been taken over by another, and he was kicked out of it.

Roy stood in shock for a moment, casting a glance at his surroundings which now looked different to him. He watched as his own body stood up and started laughing at him, which sent a shiver down Roy's spine. Wait, did he even have a spine?

He looked down at his hands. They were translucent. Ghostly pale. Just like he felt his face going right now. He was dead. He was much too young to die, but now he was dead, and someone else was posing as him...a demon, no less.

Demon Roy looked over at Ghost Roy and smirked. "Give my regards to your precious Bakanuri." With that, the demon turned and left the room, slamming the door behind him.

Roy paced around the room for a couple hours. He needed help. He needed it badly, but where could he get help now that he was just a ghost? Not many people could see ghosts. Maybe a witch could...Emily Dunham? No, he shook his head. He wasn't exactly sure which side she was on anyway. Wait, that demon had been able to see him...and he seemed to think that Bakanuri...Edward...was actually trying to bring peace between the races. Roy shrugged his shoulders. What harm could it cause to have a ghost go visit Edward now? He might at least be able to get some of the information he'd been seeking.

He wasn't exactly sure how to get there, since he hadn't been a ghost for very long...but it couldn't be too hard, could it? Roy closed his eyes and thought of Edward...he waited, and waited...until he felt like he was in a different place. When he opened his eyes, he found that, indeed, he was in a different place. He was in the Rockbell home, and the Rockbells and the Elrics were all sitting in the living room, discussing what should be done about the current situation.

Roy tried to speak up...but his cry went unnoticed. No one could see him, or hear him, it seemed. Of course, it didn't help that Edward was talking so loudly right then, ranting about Emily Dunham and how much he hated her. Roy sighed and hung his head. This was bad. If he couldn't get any help, then what was he to do?

He walked into the middle of the room, trying to get at a better angle to be noticed. Edward suddenly jumped. "Colonel!" The others in the room stared at Ed in disbelief.

"Brother, do you hate the Colonel so badly that you starting to see his face everywhere you go?"

Edward shook his head frantically. "No! I mean...he's here, right now, standing in the room!"

Everyone got confused expressions on their faces. What was Ed even talking about? This didn't make any sense. Edward ignored them, however, and turned to Roy. "Colonel...what happened? I'm pretty sure that you didn't just up and kill yourself."

Roy shook his head sadly. "No, it's much worse than that." He then proceeded to tell Edward just what had happened to him only a short while before. Edward turned quite pale, and began to stare at the ground. Winry and Al noticed the expression on his face, and frantically asked him what was wrong.

"Guys," said Edward, "The situation is much worse than I had thought. Someone is out to defeat me, and to do that, they are taking over the military." No one was able to speak, so Edward continued. "That is why Roy is here. He was possessed and then promptly expelled from his body. Now he's coming to me as a last hope...to come to me, he must be pretty desperate." In spite of the terrible situation afoot, Edward couldn't help but chuckle at the thought of that.

Al and Winry remained silent. What could they say? Pinako, however, spoke up. "It sounds to me like we have no choice but to help if this is going all the way up to the military...but I would've done what I could have to help you regardless. I trust you, Edward. We all do. Even Colonel Mustang does, or he wouldn't have come to you for help. We're on your side. Whatever you need us to do, just tell us, and we'll do it without question."

Edward looked around at the group and got confirmations from everyone else, even Colonel Mustang...though Roy had to push it by saying, "Oh great, now I'm taking orders from the shrimp!" which just prompted Ed to jump up and try to punch him. It didn't do much good though, since Roy was a ghost and the punch just passed right through him. Roy laughed. "I guess there are some advantages to being a ghost after all."

Edward returned his hand to his side, and said, "Indeed, there are, and you'd better learn those advantages soon, because we're going to need all the help we can get."

Roy mock-saluted Edward, and said, "Yes, sir, FullMetal mini, I shall do my best."

Edward clenched his fist at the retort and said, "I only consider it fair to warn you...my demonic powers are unfettered...I am capable of hurting you, even with you being a ghost, so you'd better not tick me off too badly. This isn't a game, Colonel...this is bigger than anything you've ever had to deal with."

"I understand, FullMetal, and I'll try to control my tongue until this whole issue is over with." He laughed again, and then asked, "What do we need to do first?"

"First things first," said Edward, "We need to find a plan of action...or at least find out what is going on behind our backs."

"I could come in handy for that," said Roy, "Most people can't see ghosts, right?"

"Right," said Edward, "But watch out, demons and some witches and psychics can. Be careful whose presence you're in."

"Yes, sir!" Roy mock-saluted Edward again and then vanished from the room. Edward shook his head and sat down. This was going to be a very tough battle.

**_Hope that you liked that. Leave some reviews to get an update, heh heh (wicked grin) and then come back next time to see more of this story, as well as the Eds looking for a solution to their problem, heh._**


	11. Chapter 11

**_Hey, everyone! Sorry that it took so long for this chapter to get out, heh. I get distracted sometimes, by life, study, friends (cough), um...and stuff like that...but you know I'll eventually get it out, right? Right. Okay, hope that you enjoy this chapter._**

Oh yeah, also, I don't have everything planned out for this story yet. I know how I want it to end and all, but I don't have every event decided yet, so feel free to offer suggestions! I might be able to use them. A lot of help for this chapter and the last one came from SakuraSagura, so thank you!

Disclaimer: I do not own SakuraSagura...wait, what the heck? Now I'm going crazy. I'm spending too much time with her. (sigh) I meant to say that I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist. Happy?

Roy suddenly appeared in front of the military headquarters building. He quickly glanced around to make sure that the coast was clear, or at least, that no one had seen him, and then started walking towards the building. He wasn't exactly familiar with his new ghostly abilities, so it was just easier to walk when he only had a short distance, since his aim wasn't perfect yet.

He began climbing the steps when he saw someone suddenly walk out of the building, head down, hands in their pockets. Roy's first thought was to try and hide, but then he relaxed, realizing that the person wouldn't be able to see him. It wouldn't be a big deal if he were to just walk right on past him, so he proceeded to do so.

As he was walking past the man, however, the man reached out his hand and grabbed ahold of Roy's shoulder. "Roy," he said, "I'm sorry. I didn't get here on time. I wanted to stop it from happening, but I...hesitated. They're right when they called me a coward...I guess I really am...I'm sorry."

Roy's face turned pale, that is, if a ghost's face can turn more pale than it already is, and he jerked his shoulder out of the man's hand. Who was this guy? His voice sounded familiar, yes...but...

The man then looked up into Roy's face, and Roy gasped. Those eyes were definitely a yellowish color, though they weren't the deep golden color that Edward possessed. This man must've been a lower level demon, which would also explain why he could see him...but, no...this was impossible...this man couldn't possibly be...

"Roy," he said, "I'm sorry that I didn't return after I was released...I honestly didn't want you to know of my true nature. I was afraid of how you would react to that knowledge, and I feared the reaction of my family as well. Because of that, I was named Coshenai...it means 'coward'."

The man looked down at the ground, and Roy let out a sigh. He felt sorry for the poor guy, it didn't matter to him that this man was a demon. He'd learned by now that not all demons were evil, and this one didn't appear to be evil either. Perhaps if he addressed him by his human name, he would feel better...perhaps even get to the point where he felt good enough about himself to convince the other demons to call him by a different name.

"Hughes," said Roy. The demon looked up in surprise at the way Roy had addressed him, and Roy smiled. "Look, I don't care if you're a demon, and I honestly can't say that I blame you for fearing the reactions of those you cared about...but there is something bigger at stake here than our own pride. While there is one side that is striving for peace and harmony between the races, there is another one that is fighting to disrupt it."

"I know," said Hughes. "I knew that they were going to possess you...I thought that if I came and, well, entered your body myself, that there wouldn't be anything they could do about it...and the side striving for peace would still have you as a powerful ally...but I guess I came too late...and now our side has lost, all because of me...I'm...I'm sorry..."

This time Roy put a hand on Hughes' shoulder. "Relax, I understand why you were afraid. War is not an easy thing to deal with in either realm, and this is definitely war...but all hope is not gone. Edward has already indicated that he can utilize my services as a ghost, so he still has me as an ally, even if not in physical form. I might actually be able to help more this way."

Hughes looked at him with a start. "Then...Edward is the demon Bakanuri?" Roy nodded, a little surprised that Hughes, of all people, wasn't aware of that. Hughes placed a hand on his chin in a thinking posture, and said, "I always knew there was something different about that little guy. I never would have realized that he was such a powerful demon. If HE'S Bakanuri, then we might actually have a chance." Finally, Hughes noticed Roy's confused expression, so he chuckled and answered, "I've never met Bakanuri personally, merely heard about him. I wasn't sure what kind of determination he had...but now that I know he's Edward..."

"...He has more determination than anyone I know," Roy finished for him.

"Right," said Hughes, "So we actually have a chance of winning this battle if we ally ourselves with him." Hughes paused for a second, as if listening to something inaudible, and then said, "Come, Roy, we need to get inside quickly. Something is amiss."

"First Lieutenant," said Roy as he approached Riza Hawkeye, "Tell me the whereabouts of the Elric brothers."

Riza squinted her eyes and glared at the man who was supposed to be her superior. "Sir," she said, "Forgive my doubtfulness, but you just spoke to them over the phone today. How is it that you don't know where they are?"

Roy slapped his hand on a nearby desk. "I KNOW where they are! I simply need to hear it from you!"

Riza cautiously took a step back. There was something wrong here, seriously. She never knew more than Roy about the Elric brothers, so why was he asking her?

"Answer me, Hawkeye!" Roy snapped. Riza jumped and looked up into the man's eyes as he approached her. What she saw made her face turn white. Instead of the usual dark eyes she was so used to on the man, a pair of gold-colored eyes met her vision. The only person she had ever met previously with golden eyes was the elder Elric brother, so there was just no possible way...

Riza quickly drew her gun and pointed it at Roy. "Stay back, you impostor!" Roy stopped his advancing for a moment, showing confusion on his face. Then, the expression changed from one of confusion to one of pure evil delight.

"You're a pretty perceptive one, aren't you, missy?" At this, Hawkeye backed herself up against the wall, gun still pointed at Roy. Who was this? He sure looked like Roy, but he obviously wasn't.

"Who are you?" she demanded, "Tell me or I'll shoot!"

The demon cocked his head back and laughed. "If you kill this body, it will have no effect on me...but your precious Roy Mustang will never be able to come back. So go ahead, shoot me." The fake Mustang extended his arms to either side, as if to make himself an easy target. Riza quickly glanced around. She had to get out of there fast.

She slowly began inching towards the door, hoping that the demonic person before her wasn't noticing her intention. As soon as she saw the chance, she dove at the door and ran out of the office. She had to get away from here, and from that man, fast. She needed to warn the higher-ups about the infiltration.

As she was pondering her next move, she suddenly began hearing heavy footsteps coming from somewhere behind her. She was being chased. Riza picked up her pace and made for the nearest window. Unfortunately, she wasn't on the first story of the building, but if she carefully plotted her fall, she might be able to get through it with minimal damage. It was risky, but it was the only way she'd be able to get out of the building in time without getting caught.

Riza hoisted herself up into the window, and threw herself down. In less than a second, she found she had landed on some bushes growing outside the headquarters building. While that was a painful landing, considering all the scratches she had gotten out if it, she was for the most part unharmed. She pulled herself up, thanking her lucky stars for her safety, and was just about to make a break for it when she heard an all too familiar voice speak to her.

"Leaving so soon, Miss Hawkeye?"

Riza snapped her attention around to glare into the face of the man that had once been Roy Mustang. How he had gotten down here so quickly was beyond her, but there was nothing she could do about it. He was here.

The man walked up to her. "Now, I'll repeat the question: Where are the Elric brothers?" Riza began to shake her head, not wanting to answer. Roy then raised a gloved hand, formed into a snapping position. "Because if you don't tell me, I'll kill everyone in the building. It will be a piece of cake combining this guy's fire alchemy with my natural power to amplify it." Riza paled, and stared at Roy's hand. Roy smirked, and said, "That's better. Now, tell me what I want to know."

Riza was fumbling for words, trying to stall for time. Was it better that she reveal the Elric brothers' location to this being to save the lives of everyone in the building, or was it better to sacrifice the lives in the building for the sake of keeping the secret safe? What did he want with that information, anyway? She sensed that it was amiss, whatever the case was...but she couldn't place her finger on it. If only she could have time to figure out what she needed to figure out!

Just then, the silence was broken by someone talking rapidly and shoving a piece of paper in front of demon Roy's eyes. "Isn't my daughter just the cutest thing you ever saw? No matter how old she gets, she's just as sweet as an angel!"

Demon Roy turned an angry face to the intruder. "Coshenai, keep out of this! You're getting in the way."

"But doesn't my little girl's smile just lighten up your day and make you smile?"

Demon Roy rolled his eyes and sighed. What a time for this idiot to show up. Now what was the best way to get rid of him?

Meanwhile, Riza was standing nearby, utter shock written across her features. She wasn't sure what to make of this, or who to trust, if she could trust anyone. She then felt a gentle hand on her shoulder, which made her jump, and she turned to catch a glimpse of this new person, but couldn't see anyone. Riza gulped, and weakly said, "...Colonel?"

Though she heard no reply, she could almost swear that whoever it was standing by her had smiled at the use of the title. If he had smiled, then it probably was indeed the Colonel. Was he trying to comfort her? Tell her to trust him to work out the situation? She closed her eyes, then gulped and nodded. It was her only hope.

About this time, demon Roy was pretty irritable from Hughes' attempts at glamorizing his little girl with his photographs, and didn't notice when the real Roy had moved behind him. "Hey you, give me my body back!" Roy shouted, and proceeded to walk up and kick the impostor in the back. This angered the demon, since his fuse was pretty short, and he whipped around to face Roy alone.

Perfect, thought Hughes, it's going according to plan. Hughes then slipped away from the other demon and went over to Hawkeye. He felt a bit awkward about having to wrap his arms around her, but he really didn't have an option if he was to save her, and he didn't have the time to explain his actions to her either. She got a slightly startled look on her face just before the two of them disappeared.

Roy, being on the other side of the demonic impostor, saw as the two disappeared, executing the plan successfully. Wonderful. Hughes hadn't changed a bit. He was still an amazing man, demon, whatever. Roy then turned back to face the demon before him, who was getting more furious by the minute. Snickering, Roy placed his hands on the side of his head like he was giving himself antlers, and waved his fingers while sticking his tongue out. The demon angrily charged at Roy, but Roy simply vaporized away, chuckling to himself. If he couldn't get his body back, at least he could torment the one who had taken his body.

It wasn't long before he once again met up with Hughes and Hawkeye at the predestined location where they were all to meet, since Hughes didn't know where the Elrics were at the time. Riza was visibly shaking, since she wasn't used to such encounters, but she refused to run. Somehow, Roy found that to be a rather attractive feature of that woman...but wait, he had to push that aside for now, there were more important matters.

Soon, the three individuals appeared in the Rockbells' living room, scaring three of those that were already there out of their minds from the sudden intrusion, though Ed didn't seem to be a bit fazed by it. He must've been used to weird stuff like that happening.

Edward turned and stared down the intruders. "So...you managed to rescue the First Lieutenant from that evil counterpart of you, Roy?" Strangely, Ed always respected everyone's rank except for Roy's. Roy noticed it too...but, as usual, he didn't really worry much about it. This time especially was pretty irrelevant, him being a ghost and the other a demon, so he just shrugged it off.

"Yes, she had been put in quite an awkward position by the impostor. I'm just glad that Hughes and I were able to get to her in time."

At that, Edward turned and looked at Hughes. He could tell that the man was a lower level demon, but he didn't really care at this point. He needed all the all the allies he could get. Edward stood up and approached him. "So, what is your name, anyway?"

Hughes paused for a second, like he was looking for words to say. He was rather ashamed of his name, and he hung his head. Finally, he managed to utter, "Coshenai."

Edward did a half-smile. "A coward, huh?" He scratched the back of his head. "No, that name won't do for you, not since you went and rescued the First Lieutenant, knowing full well what could happen to you if you were caught by the higher level demons. That was not cowardice." Edward shook his head. "You need a new name...how about...Sedenai?"

Hughes brought his head back up and stared into Edward's eyes. "You really are Bakanuri, aren't you?" Edward smiled and nodded. Hughes looked almost like he was about to burst into tears as he profusely thanked Edward for the name. Ed just waved it off and shrugged, like it wasn't a big deal, and then left the room.

Roy turned to Hughes. "So, it only takes a decision by one demon to get a name change?"

Hughes shook his head. "No, my official name is still Coshenai. Bakanuri is opposed to the demonic forces, so whatever name he chooses for me doesn't technically apply by demon law...but the fact that he chose one for me like this means that that is how he thinks of me, and is what he will call me in his circle of allies. It's still a great honor, all the same."

Roy placed his hand under his chin in a thinking position and nodded. He understood, sort of, even though demonic politics seemed a bit weird to him. "So...what does...Sedenai mean, anyway?"

Hughes smiled, and one could note the sparkle in his eyes. "It means 'noble one'."

Edward came marching back into the room. "We need to go back to my home world. It's the only way I can safely plan a battle strategy."

"But Brother," Al said, jumping up from his seat to go stand by Ed, "I don't want to be separated from you again!"

Edward made a funny face. "Where did you get the idea that I was leaving you behind? With Sedenai's help, I can take all of you." He looked around the room and nodded towards Winry and Pinako, who seemed a bit surprised at the declaration. "It's the only way I can protect you."

Winry slowly stood up. "The...the demon home world?" She stopped for a moment and clasped her hands together, as if unsure of if she should be excited or terrified, and was pretty much settling on feeling a bit of both.

"Yes..." Ed rolled his eyes at the slowness of the people in the room. Human beings didn't seem to be too smart at times. "That's my home world. I'm going to take you all with me to protect you."

At this, Pinako stood up. "I'm sorry, Edward, but I'll have to decline your offer. I'm too old for such a strenuous trip as that. Besides, someone needs to stay behind and tend to the needs of our customers. I doubt that any demons will be coming after me, anyway."

"Auntie," Edward looked a bit sad, "...Are you sure? I'd hate for anything to happen to you simply because you were left behind."

Pinako smiled at the fact that Edward had finally called her Auntie again, and said, "I'm positive, Edward. Just take care of these other two, so that I don't have to worry about them. I trust you. Now get going, before anyone else shows up."

Hughes blushed and said he was sorry, but his apology was more or less just ignored, since no one really cared that he had suddenly shown up. Edward then went and told Al, Riza, and Winry to huddle together as close as possible. Ed and Hughes then placed themselves on either side of the group, and reached around to take each other's hands. This was why it required more than one demon to transport more than one person, since their arms had to extend around the people being transported.

Edward looked up one last time. "Goodbye, Auntie. Please be safe." Pinako waved goodbye to the group, and a tear fell from her eye, as the group disappeared.

**_Ed glared at his double. "Can you believe it? She didn't even remember to put us in the disclaimer!" The other Ed shrugged like he didn't even care, so Ed came back and said, "Are you sure that you're me?"_**

"Sort of," said the other Ed, "But a lot of my traits are opposite yours. I'm right-handed, and have auto-mail on my left hand and right leg."

"...Weird," said Ed, "Anyway, we need to come up with a way to tell ourselves apart..."

He was interrupted by his double, who had started laughing. "You can't tell us apart? Look, I'll teach you." He pointed to himself. "This is me." He then pointed to Ed, "And this is you. Understand?"

Ed rolled his eyes. "Of course I understand! I could always tell us apart...but a lot of the readers can't tell us apart so well."

The Ed double scratched his head. "Readers? What are you..." He turned his head and suddenly saw a crowd of freaks watching everything he did and screamed. He extended a shaky finger in their direction. "Those...those are..."

"Readers," finished Ed. He shrugged. "We're supposed to please them for some odd reason. So...anyway, to make us easy to tell apart...I'll be Ed one, and you can be Ed two, got it?"

Ed two snapped his attention to Ed one. "Hey, why do you get to be number one?"

Ed one rolled his eyes. "Because I was here first."

"No you weren't, I was!"

The two continued arguing for some time until the author got tired and told them to break it up and save it for the next chapter, so they did.

Sigh. Anyway, if you want another chapter, you'll have to review. If you want to see more dual Eds, you'll have to review. Then again, that'll probably just discourage you from reviewing, so just review for the chapter, hehe.

"Hey, we're cool...right?...right?...RIGHT?" (cricket sound) (sob)


	12. Chapter 12

**_Hey, everybody! Welcome back! Here's the next installment. Hope you enjoy. Again, credit where it's due. I got a lot of help from Lyemi for this chapter, so thank you very much, Lyemi! Anyone else who wants to help with this story, please feel free to offer me suggestions. Feel free to PM or e-mail me. I also go by bigfattux on Yahoo and ReincarnatedAlphonse at the animelab chatroom, so drop me a line, or just say hi. Either way, heh._**

Ed one stared at the person who looked just like him in silence. It was annoying. This guy thought and did everything that he did, but it was in reverse! When Ed one would turn right, Ed two would turn left, and the two would end up running into each other. One was right-handed, and the other was left-handed. Even further, they both ate with two different hands, and often bumped elbows, causing each other to spill their food and yell at the other for it. Something had to be done.

Ed one walked into the bathroom, where there was a full length mirror, and stared into it. There was no reflection, though that made sense since his reflection was walking around loose. He motioned towards his double. "Hey, you, Ed Two, come here!"

Ed two stared at him and muttered something about him not telling him what to do, but eventually gave in and walked over. Ed one motioned for him to look into the mirror and tell him what he saw. "I don't see anything," said Ed two.

"Wrong!" said Ed one, slapping Ed two across the back of the head. "Can't you see the disclaimer sitting there? It means that Melissa doesn't own us...me." With that, he proceeded to run off before Ed two caught on to what was going on.

When he finally DID catch onto what was going on, he took off running after Ed one, though he was long gone. Regardless, Ed two began shouting after him, "You idiot, what are you talking about? There was no disclaimer in the mirror!"

The little group suddenly materialized out of nowhere, and everyone immediately gripped their heads as if trying to prevent them from exploding. Well, Roy TRIED to grip his head, but he was the only one in the group without one.

"What's going on, Ed?" said Winry, frantically gripping ahold of her head and moving to kneel on the ground, as she was beginning to be overcome by overwhelming dizziness. It didn't make any sense. Al had supposedly enjoyed the demon home world. He hadn't said anything about constantly changing, unstable scenery that gave one a headache just to be in it.

"You. Guys. Are. Just. Confused," Ed said through gritted teeth while frantically holding his head together, "Get. Your. Act. Together!"

"What are you talking about, Ed?" asked Winry, not even bothering to look up at him for fear she'd have to behold the crazy scenery before her and get a migraine. Ed simply got up and began walking away like he had when he had first brought Al here. Winry noticed his presence leaving, and called out to him. "Ed, Edward! Please, don't leave me here! Ed, come back, Ed!"

Then a hand was placed on her shoulder. Winry dared to open her eyes for a second to see Al standing there beside her. "It's not Brother's fault," said Al, "It's ours. He gets this way every time we mess up the scenery and he can't do anything about it."

"What? How is it our fault?"

Roy then stepped up. "Wait...could this be an astral plane? Do our thoughts control the scenery here?"

Al blinked a couple times in surprise. This was the first time he had seen or heard Roy since he had become a ghost. This plane apparently had something to do with allowing him to see ghosts without problem. It also surprised him a bit that Roy had figured out the situation so quickly...but that was probably because he was now a ghost...a native of the astral.

"Um...yes...that's exactly what's happening. For some reason, human thoughts are stronger here than demonic thoughts, so we tend to overpower the demonic interpretation of what the land should look like. That wouldn't be such a big problem if we'd just all work together and think the same thing."

"Wait," said Winry, "Are you saying that our thoughts cause things to happen here? That sounds kind of cool...but...that's impossible!"

Silent Hughes finally stepped up and interjected into the conversation. "The boy's right. Thoughts control everything here, and your thoughts are stronger than ours in this realm, for some odd reason. You guys need to work together or we're not going to get anywhere. Now come on, straighten up, and think alike!"

Winry jumped. It was a little weird to hear Hughes get that bossy...but then, he was probably getting a headache like they were, so she couldn't really blame him. Winry licked her lips, and said, "Okay...so, um...what do we think about then?"

Hughes put his hand under his chin for a second as if trying to think, perhaps trying to remember what the land before them usually looked like. After a moment, he snapped his fingers, and told everyone present to stand around in a circle, and to lean inward so that their heads were touching each other. This was rather awkward and hard to do, but everyone followed his orders without question. Even Roy did so, though, being a ghost, it wasn't as hard for him to do as it was for the others.

Hughes then bent into the circle as well, and touched his head to the heads of those nearest him, which happened to be Al and Winry. Hughes closed his eyes. A moment later, both Al and Winry jumped in surprise, especially Winry, who had never had this done to her before. Al understood that this was a form of demonic telepathic communication, as Ed had done this to him before, but he still wasn't used to it.

Soon, everyone had received the same image, and Hughes instructed everyone to begin assembling their thoughts to resemble that image, since they needed to be thinking alike. Everyone stood upright, and did their best to look out at the scenery, which was still constantly shifting uncontrollably. They took a deep breath, some closed their eyes, and everyone began slowly working towards aligning their thoughts. This was the first time they had ever needed to do so, so it wasn't easy.

Slowly, but surely, the landscape before them smoothed out and became calm and serene, just like the mental image they had been sent. Everyone present breathed a sigh of relief.

Winry scratched the back of her head. "Wow, I can't believe we actually DID that! I mean...how could we possibly change the land just by thinking about it?"

Al smiled at her. "I did it singlehandedly when I was here with brother the first time. It's easier to do when there's just one person. In this world, it allows you to do whatever you think about. The 'scientific' laws of this place allow for that."

While Winry continued staring in awe at the place, Ed came walking up. "Hey, I'm sorry for running off like that. You guys did a good job of uniting your thoughts. That must've been challenging for you." Edward got various shrugs and other gestures in response, including from the ever-present but completely silent Riza. He then smiled and motioned for everyone to follow him.

As everyone was walking along, Al happened to glance down and saw a little pink bracelet on the ground. Curious, he picked it up. It looked like those little plastic bracelets back in Amestris that were all the rage right now, though it didn't have any words printed on it as so many of them did. He smiled. It was kind of cute, actually, pink or not. Like he had always said, real men wear pink. So, he slipped it over his wrist and continued walking on.

The little group had just barely entered a wooded area, when they were disrupted by a random demon appearing in front of them. "Bakanuri...I had heard that you might be here."

Edward crossed his arms. "Yeah, well what are you going to do about it? When I'm on my own turf, there's not much you can do." He then proceeded to jut out his chin in defiance, as if daring this intruder to make a move against him.

The other demon laughed a menacing laugh. "You have a lot of spunk, don't you, Bakanuri?" He then waved his hand as if signaling to someone, and just like that, a large number of other demons suddenly appeared around the little group. "You may be on your own turf, but so are we. Surrender yourself and your friends over to us, or face the consequences."

Edward uncrossed his arms and instead placed them on his hips, still a very defiant gesture, and said, "And just what would the consequences be of defying you?"

The lead demon laughed his demonic laugh again, and held up a very old looking skeleton key. "I hold here the key to Cushtano. If you don't surrender yourself, you will be sent there."

At this, Edward paled and looked to be starting to shake. Winry noticed this reaction on his part, and turned to Hughes to ask him what this 'Cushtano' was.

"It is a place of eternal exile and torture which no one has been able to escape from, not even the strongest demon sent there." Winry continued to look at him, as if searching for further explanation. Hughes lowered his head and sighed. "You have heard of it in your world too...only you call it by a different name. You humans call it 'Hell'."

**_I hope that you enjoyed this chapter. Please leave a review, and let me know your thoughts. The faster I get the reviews, the faster I'll update, hehe. So please, leave me some reviews, okay? Thanks._**


	13. Chapter 13

**_I know, I know, it's taken me forever to update this fic, I'm sorry! It's taken me forever to update ANYTHING...having a severe case of writer's block or something...though I'm not sure if that's exactly the most accurate thing to call it, considering that I wasn't out of ideas, just was going through a time when I couldn't express anything. Go figure. Anyway, it appears I'm over it for the most part. Let's hope it stays this way._**

**_Disclaimer: ((Pull the string and the arrow spins around the wheel)) The Edward Elric says: "She doesn't own me, darnit! Do you honestly think I'd let anyone own me? HECK no! She doesn't freakin' own me, people! Get it through your freakin' heads! ((Then the toy blows up because Ed said more than his alloted few seconds' worth.))_**

Edward coughed as nearly molten rock and ashes fell down around him. Demons rarely ever felt such discomforts as choking on dust, so what was going on? His mind raced back to the last few moments in an attempt to try and remember what had transpired, and his eyes suddenly widened at the realization. No…NO! It couldn't be…He couldn't be…here?

"_I hold here the key to Cushtano…"_

"Al!" Ed reared around and squinted his eyes to try and see through the darkness that was only broken by the occasional red glow coming from some sort of smoldering fire. His voice echoed off the walls, causing more stone to fall to the floor, and more dust to fly into the air. Edward coughed a bit more, and then picked his way over the stone, grimacing at the heat. "Al? Where are you?...ANSWER ME!!!"

Still no response, except for the sounds of screaming and groaning coming from the distance. If this was really Cushtano, then those sounds would be expected in a place like this. Oh, he hoped that his friends weren't being tortured. "Al? Winry? Roy?...SOMEBODY ANSWER ME!"

He continued carefully picking his way over a path that seemed like it should belong there, but wasn't exactly there, burning his hands and knees every time he had to stoop down to crawl over a rock formation that happened to be in the way. Surely, if they had all been thrown into this awful place, wouldn't they have all been thrown in together? As bad as this place was, he had at least expected THAT. Wait…maybe that meant they weren't here after all. Could those demons have only wanted to get _him_ out of the way, and no one else? The other demon, Coshenai/Sedenai wasn't a threat without him around, and the rest of the people were human beings. None of them could hope to fight the demon resistance without him. Maybe that was exactly what had happened then. He had been sent here, alone.

Screaming and frantic crying suddenly caught Edward's attention, as it was coming from somewhere right next to him. He whipped his head around in time to find a little girl scrambling over the burning rocks to get away from something that had scared her. Other screams followed, and Edward turned to see other children from the area running and hiding, following the first little girl's lead. What were they running from? Was there some sort of threat in the immediate vicinity that he was unaware of?

Ed continued looking around, trying to find what had scared the children, when he finally heard some of the frantic children yelling, "Demon! Demon!" as they ran from his presence. Suddenly it hit him. These children were running from _him!_ But why? He was in the same predicament that they were, so did they honestly have anything to fear from him?

A whimpering from behind him made Ed spin around. There was yet another little girl looking at him, seated against the support of one of the heated rock formations, burn marks all over her skin. She looked up at Ed with her big pleading eyes and cried, "Please, Mr. Demon…don't hurt me."

Ed frowned and knelt down in front of the child, ignoring the scalding pain it sent him to do so. He reached out a hand and gently touched the little girl's burns without saying a word, and the girl flinched in response to his touch. He sighed. These children were simply afraid of demons in general, it seemed. Understandable, knowing the kind of tempers demons would likely manifest in a place like this. Cushtano was basically comparable to demon prison. Only the worst demons went there, and no one ever came out. Ever. Unfortunately, some humans ended up here from time to time after they had died because they had lost their way to wherever human beings were actually supposed to go after death. It was a shame really, especially with all these innocent children being tortured by the angry demons.

"Don't be scared," Ed said, making his voice as soft and gentle as he could while still holding onto the child to keep her from running off, "I won't hurt you."

The little girl sniffed and looked up at him with her large blue eyes. "You won't?" Ed shook his head, so the girl spoke again. "But...you're a demon."

"Not all demons are evil," Ed said patiently. Very slowly and gently, he reached his hands around the girl's back, pausing every time she'd shutter from his touch, as he wanted to win her trust, and finally was able to get a good enough grip on her to lift her off of the burning stones she'd been perched on. "There, does that feel better?" he asked. The girl timidly nodded, and Ed smiled a bit. Naturally it would feel better to be held in someone's arms than be left to suffer on molten rock, even if that someone happened to be a demon that you were afraid of.

Ed turned and started walking in a random direction again, still gently carrying the girl in his arms, hoping that if he walked enough, he might find a clue that would lead him to freedom from this awful place somehow. "How did you get here?" he asked.

"I dunno," said the little girl. Ed sighed a little bit and forced another smile on his face, trying not to grow frustrated with the girl for not being able to provide him with information. It wasn't her fault, after all. The little girl then shifted slightly in Ed's arms and looked up into his face intently. "You're not gonna smack me?"

"Why would I smack you?"

"For not answering your question."

"Do the other demons do that?"

The little girl shivered a bit as she said, "...Yes."

Ed sighed again. "I'm sorry to hear that. Like I said, I'm not like the other demons. I'm not evil. I was sent here by an evil demon because he wanted me out of the way so that he could hurt some human friends of mine."

"You have human friends?" asked the little girl, sounding totally intrigued by the idea.

"Yeah...why...shouldn't I?"

The little girl shook her head. "Demons don't have humans as friends. Demons don't like humans. They hate us!"

Ed looked down into the little girl's face once again and paused for a second as he studied her features. She was extremely cute despite the burn marks all over her. It was a shame that she'd died so young, especially since she'd ended up in this terrible place. "I don't hate you."

Silence ensued for a few moments as the little girl had apparently reacted strongly to what Ed had said and didn't know what to say. It was certainly understandable, considering that it was so rare for a demon to not hate the human children that accidentally found their way into this place, but none of the other demons had never been a sealed demon, raised by humans, that had broken their seal by love either. Ed understood what it was like to feel human, as he had felt it many a time. Being human could be downright terrifying at times, especially when one was confronted with forces beyond one's control...such as demons.

"Then...could you let me out of here?" asked the little girl when she finally got her voice back. Ed frowned and closed his eyes, not really sure what the proper response to such a question would be.

"I'd like to," he said, "But I'm not exactly sure how to do that. I'm trapped here too, for the time being. This place is sort of like a demon prison, and humans aren't even supposed to be here, but it seems that some of you managed to find your way here regardless. I suppose that that's why the other demons beat up on you, because they're angry about being trapped here." The little girl's face briefly turned to a look of horror, which fortunately, Ed caught in time to rephrase his statement. "Oh, I'm not angry in that way, sweetie, don't worry. I'm not going to beat up on anyone...except maybe other demons." At this, he smirked in a way that caused the girl to give a nervous giggle. At least he was managing to break through her wall somewhat.

Ed suddenly felt a slight pain like a kick in his shin, and when he looked down to find the source, he found a little boy, just a little taller than the girl he was holding, standing there with both his hands in front of him, balled into fists. "Let her go, demon," said the little boy, "I won't let you hurt her."

Ed smiled a genuine smile. One had to admire this boy's courage to approach a being that all the children here feared. "I'm not gonna hurt her," he said, "I was just carrying her so that she wouldn't have to rest on those burning rocks anymore."

"You're LYING!" shouted the little boy who began throwing rapid punches and kicks Ed's way, Ed not bothering to dodge a single one. It was easy to see why this child had died so young if he had this tendency to be so ferocious. "All demons ever want to do is hurt us! Let her go or you'll regret it!"

Ed rolled his eyes and knelt down on the blistering ground, which caused him pain to do so, obviously, but he wanted these children to see that he indeed cared about them, so a little pain might be worth it. "Look," he said, holding the little girl out towards the boy, "She's free to climb out of my arms any time she wants to, I won't stop her." As Ed expected, the little girl didn't budge an inch. He couldn't blame her. If he were in her situation, he'd much rather stay in the gentle arms of a stranger than in the cruel arms of Hell.

The little boy didn't miss a beat. "Come on, what are you waiting for? Now's your chance to get away from him!"

The little girl shifted a little in Ed's arms, but not in an act to escape. On the contrary, she seemed to be making herself more comfortable. "I don't want to. He seems nice."

"Demons are never nice!"

"This one is!"

The argument went on for several minutes, Ed patiently enduring the back and forth banter of the two children, biting his tongue to help him resist the urge to speak and stop the whole thing. He knew very well that he had the tendency to blow up at people who were acting dense or stupid in his opinion, but that wouldn't help in this case. These children had been abused by his kind for so long that he would have to be extra kind to them if he were to win their trust, even if it meant painfully enduring their arguing without saying a word.

"Fine!" said the little boy while defiantly sticking out his hand, "Demon, if you're really on our side, then let's shake on it."

"What am I agreeing to?" Ed asked, overly cautious from his years of being human and all too familiar with the trickery and deceit associated with promises, even though this was only a promise with a little kid that would probably be forgotten in five minutes' time...supposing they even kept time in this realm...but, better safe than sorry.

"You're agreeing to help us get out of here," said the little boy.

"I'll do my best," Ed said, taking the little boy's hand and gently shaking it, "If you'll help me get out of here as well." The little boy practically jerked his hand away from Ed as soon as he let go and stared at his own hand in amazement as though shocked that a demon had actually touched that hand and not tried to hurt it, and furthermore, had been agreeable with him and willing to help them escape. It wasn't a normal situation, Ed knew that much, but he still wasn't used to these bizarre reactions, all the same. He'd just have to get used to it, he supposed.

Without warning, the little boy turned and ran out of sight. Ed sighed, thinking that he had somehow inadvertently scared the child off, when suddenly hoardes of children came out from nowhere and surrounded him. He blinked a couple times, checking that he was actually seeing correctly, though the thought of a demon having poor sight was kind of silly...but well, he was still used to being human in a way. The children were still there, as multitudinous as ever, and growing in number every moment. Apparently, word spread fast amongst children stuck in Cushtano.

"Where did all these children come from?" Ed asked, speaking audibly by accident, though no one seemed to take notice.

"So are you really going to get us out of here?" said a little girl standing near where Ed was still kneeling.

Ed shrugged. "I don't really know what to do, but I'm going to try."

* * *

"Brother! NO!" Al shouted just as he saw his demon brother vanish into a gate that had materialized out of nowhere, only to disappear just as quickly. The demon that had summoned the morbid-looking gate laughed wickedly and smiled with a crooked grin. He'd apparently thought he'd won, but he thought wrong. He hadn't taken into account exactly who he had to deal with. Humans weren't as helpless as he might think, especially when they were in the demon homeworld. Al glared at the maniac demon who was still laughing evilly, and he squinted his eyes and growled under his breath. "No one...NO ONE hurts my brother and gets away with it!" 

Out of nowhere, a strong breeze came over the little group and curved in on itself to form a cyclone. Everyone stared on in amazement, wondering what was going on...except for Al, who was still focusing intently with his eyes partially shut. The cyclone gained in power and size and eventually started lifting the very soil itself out of the ground, leaving a gaping hole...right underneath the feet of the demons that had sabotaged the party of humans. The look on their faces showed that this was definitely not going according to their plans, and Al smirked a bit at the thought of causing them some form of mental pain. With another quick burst of energy from the cyclone, the demons fell down into the hole, the soil was replaced over it, burying them in its depths, and the cyclone itself vanished into nothing.

"What...just...happened...?" asked Winry, utterly perplexed. "Are humans lighter than demons or something? How did we float above that hole when the demons fell in?" Al grinned knowingly and then hopped away from the group for a couple steps before taking on a stance of determination and walking fiercely away.

"Al? What are you doing?" asked Winry, quickly running to catch up with the boy.

"Those demons won't stay buried for long, but it buys us a little time. In the mean time, I have to find out how to get Brother back from wherever he was sent."

"But Mr. Hughes said he was sent to Hell," said Winry, "How can we get him back if he was sent there?"

"WE'LL FIND A WAY!!!" Al had whirled about to yell at her, and then spun around just as quickly to continue marching on in his determined fashion, not really knowing where he was going. Winry sighed and looked on. It was very unusual to see Al like this. He was the calm one. For him to get this angry, he must be really hurting inside.

**_Okay, that's it for this chapter, but don't worry, I still have plenty of ideas for the story...have had for months, just gotta find ways to get from here to there, heh. That's always a bit tricky. Heh. Until then, feel free to review and offer suggestions or questions if you have any. All reviewers will get a free virtual Ed plushie that yells, "Stop hugging me, I'm not a baby!" every time you hug him. snickers_**


	14. Chapter 14

**_Hey, look at this, I managed to update another chapter of this fic in the same day! I've got my writer's touch back for sure! Yeah! ((claps for myself and dances a happy little ditty)) You know, I just remembered that I've forgotten something..._**

**_Disclaimer: Ed One: You mean us?_**

**_Ed Two: Of course she means us, who else would she mean?_**

**_Ed One: Well, at least she remembered finally._**

**_Ed Two: Yeah, but she forgot us in the last chapter!_**

**_Me: Who cares, you two, now just do the disclaimer already!_**

**_Ed One: Fine, you don't own us, but we're not going to let you live this down!_**

**_Ed Two: Nope, we certainly aren't. ((Plots evilly))_**

Ed carefully stepped over the molten rock, making sure to keep the pressure light on his feet. Even though he was wearing shoes, so to speak ((demon clothes were actually created by the imagination of the demon wearing them)), he could feel the burn of the rock through them, and if he'd been flesh and blood, he'd have been charred through by now. He was so grateful that the others hadn't been sent here. They couldn't have been, or he'd have met up with them by now, though they would probably have been ghosts. There was no way they would have survived this torture in their flesh and blood bodies. Sometimes being a spirit being was very useful for situations like this, though it also meant that you couldn't escape the torture by dying.

"So, these demons actually read?" Ed asked, with a bit of a sneer evident in his voice. If these demons were intelligent enough to read, then why were they behaving the way they were? Surely if they were smarter than animals, they would know how to act like it? Then again, these were demons he was talking about, his own kind, not humans, which he'd found, strangely, were more predictable.

"No, they just have books," said a little girl who was holding one of Ed's hands.

"They've forbidden us to read them, but they never read them themselves," said a little boy on Ed's other hand.

"I see..." Ed said letting out his exasperation at the stupidity of his own kind in the form of a sigh. "I guess that just goes to show what idiots demons can be." This comment sent a few of the children into fits of laughter at the fact that a demon had insulted his own kind. It wasn't common, Ed agreed, but what he'd said was the truth. The fact that he was even in here was proof enough of that. He was the one smart one out there, the one that was trying to find peace between the races, and the others were insistent upon keeping war. From his years spent as a human, he had learned a lot about war, and a lot about what war does not solve. It rarely ever solved anything.

The group reached the room that the children had spoken about, and Ed reached up to touch the massive, but heavily-worn down stone door. He suspected it had been eroded over the millenia, or whatever form of time occured here, by the constant heat that was straining the rock. It was fastened securely into place in a spot where the rock had melted and rehardened into rock. Ed shook his head. He hoped that none of the other demons used that as an excuse not to read. That would just mean that they were purely lazy, and probably deserved to be here. Ed took a deep breath, clapped his hands, and placed them on the door. Borrowing techniques from both his demonic powers and his knowledge of alchemy, he sent a torrent of blue and yellow light at the door and formed a wide circle that looked as though it had been cut into it with a very sharp knife. "Okay, it's all clear," Ed said to the children with a smile. He stepped into the room, and then made a gesture with his hand that indicated that they were free to follow, just so long as they didn't damage any of the books.

"Now, let's see..." said Ed, pulling out the first book he found and placing it on a stand that he found. The book itself was about the size of some of the smaller children, and was covered with dust, making him cough when he disturbed it. "I guess I'll just have to start with one book and read on through them all until I find the answers I'm looking for."

"But that could take forever!" exclaimed the little boy who had initially kicked him in the shin.

Ed narrowed his eyes and looked at him. "Do you have a better idea?" The little boy shook his head and backed off, so Ed bent down to his book once again and sighed. "In that case, we'd better get started."

* * *

"Al...do you even know where you're going? What if you run into some more demons?" Winry asked as she patiently tried to keep up with Al, who was still marching furiously at a fast pace, fists clenched tight by his sides. 

"Shut up! You don't know how I feel, so stop pretending like you do!"

Winry nearly tripped over herself at that response, as that was definitely not normal Al behavior, though she understood that he'd be upset at a time like she. She was upset too, but somehow was able to remain calmer under the strain of it than Al was. "I...I didn't say I understood how you felt, Al...I just wanted to get you to stop long enough to make a plan...or something...you know?"

Al whirled around and glared into Winry's eyes. "You know what? I don't need your plans! I don't need your advice! I don't need any of your stuff!" With that, he turned and ran off again, leaving Winry in a trail of dust, completely and utterly shocked at what Al had just said. He hadn't actually used the word "stuff".

* * *

After some time had passed, Al had finally managed to get himself a considerable distance away from everyone else, enough so that they couldn't try to console him. He didn't want to be consoled right then. He was furious and hurt, and if he couldn't think of a way to get his brother back, then he at least needed to be left alone so that he could mull over the situation somehow. Squinting his eyes once again to focus his intent, he imagined a cave just a few yards in front of him, and it magically appeared. Thank goodness he hadn't forgotten his abilities in this world yet. If he couldn't get his brother back, he might be stuck here for awhile, maybe forever. 

Al crawled into the cave and found a comfortable place to sit down. It was cool and dark, the perfect place to mope. He brought his knees up to his chin and wrapped his hands around his ankles. "Brother...where are you? No...how do I get you out of there? That's what I should be asking." He sighed and let his forehead come to rest on his knees. He couldn't hold back his feelings anymore, and the hot, angry tears started dripping down his face. "Brother, how DARE you leave us here like this! How could you let them do this to you? Didn't you know how to fight them off? I thought you were stronger than that!"

He continued to cry for several minutes, varying between allowing himself to sob and yelling at his brother who he knew couldn't hear him. It all just seemed so unfair, everything that had happened recently. Things were going just fine until Winry had pointed out to Ed that he was a demon. If only Winry hadn't done that, stupid Winry! She ruined everything! Al suddenly regained himself and mentally chastised himself for putting Winry down like that, since it really hadn't been her fault, but he did wish that some other outcome could have happened rather than the situation they were experiencing now.

"I wish I could just go numb," said Al, aloud to himself, "I wish I could quit feeling the pain. I've had enough pain to last lifetimes. I don't want to deal with it anymore!" He gulped in more air as he was about to start another sob, when he suddenly and without warning, fell unconscious, just as the pink bracelet he had picked up some time before started glowing.

**_Okay...another chapter down, you proud of me? Feel free to leave me some rev-_**

**_Ed One: No one wants to hear you begging for reviews!_**

**_Me: Why not?_**

**_Ed Two: Because they don't, that's why!_**

**_Me: That's not a reason._**

**_Ed One and Two: We don't NEED a reason!_**

**_Me: Your impeccable logic baffles me. How could I ever stand against you two?_**

**_Ed One and Two: ((smirks))_**

**_Me: Anyway, leave me some reviews if you will, and I'll try to update this chapter soon too._**

**_Ed Two: Wait...I think she tricked us!_**

**_Me: ((snickers)) Not hard._**

**_Ed One: Hey!_**


	15. Chapter 15

**_And lookie here, I actually managed to update again, and within a reasonable time for once! Yeah me!_**

**_Ed one pouted and crossed his arms in front of his chest, obviously not quite pleased with me, "Yeah, you did something right for once."_**

**_"So," I said, "Why aren't you happy?"_**

**_"Because you should've been doing it anyway!"_**

**_I rolled my eyes and turned to face Ed two, hoping that I could get him to see reason...supposing that there was any reason to see, but only found him making faces in the mirror, but not getting any reflection back in response. "Darn it all, making faces in the mirror isn't fun without a reflection!" He said._**

**_"Well, aren't you at fault for that?" asked Ed one._**

**_"No, you are!" said Ed two._**

**_"Oh no, now don't start that again you two!" I said._**

**_"He started it!" said Ed two._**

**_"No, you did!" said Ed one._**

**_"Whatever, just say the disclaimer."_**

**_"Make him do it," said Ed one._**

**_"No, make him do it!" said Ed two._**

**_Irritably, I stood up and marched over to the two idiots. I picked up Ed two by the scruff of the collar, said, "This nonsense has gone far enough!" and then promptly shoved him back into the mirror, locking it properly so that he wouldn't slip out again._**

**_"Oh, that's how he got out the first time," said Ed one._**

**_"Yeah, and if you don't want to meet the same fate as him, I'd suggest you do the disclaimer now," I said._**

**_Ed one gulped and then quickly shouted out, "Melissadoesn'townuswewouldneverletherownusanddon'taskherifsheownsusbecauseshe'llgetscary."_**

**_Well, honestly, I wasn't sure that that was quite a proper disclaimer, but I decided it would do, so I patted Ed one's head, getting a growl from him, then I went and retreated to my room, ignoring Ed two's pleas for freedom all along the way._**

Ed rubbed his eyes in a semblance of mock fatigue as he closed the book he was reading and hefted up yet another large volume in its place. There had to be a clue as to how to escape this terrible place somehow. Most of the books he had read were just pure junk thus far, or at least, nothing useful in the slightest. They were mainly just a bunch of ancient myths about heroes and gods and warlords...nothing that bore any relevance to the current situation. Perhaps the ancient demons in this place had had nothing better to do than to write down all the myths they had ever heard from any world, seeing as they weren't going anywhere anytime soon. It was as logical an exaplanation as he could come up with.

"...Then one day, the wife of Orpheus, Eurydice, went out walking with some Naiads," Ed read aloud for the children around to be able to hear, "When a serpent suddenly sprung up from the grass and bit her in the ankle. She died shortly afterward." Ed paused a moment. A lot of these myths talked about violent things and death, and he wasn't sure that they were actually suitable for children, even though all these children WERE dead already, but he wasn't sure about how much their psyches could handle.

"Go on, what happens next?" said one little boy. Ed shrugged. He might as well accept that these children just didn't care about such things anymore, and to them, this was just another story.

"Orpheus grieved deeply over the loss of his wife. So much so, that he decided he was going to get her back." Ed closed his eyes and mouthed "Idiot" under his breath, and then opened them again to continue reading. "He was well known in the land for his spectacular ability to play the lyre, and so, with lyre in hand, he descended to the underworld to plead with Hades to return to him his wife...Heh, sounds kind of like going to the Gate..."

"Come on, keep reading!" shouted another child nearby. They obviously didn't like his little interruptions and wanted to find out what happened. Ed rolled his eyes and continued.

"Now Hades, the god of the underworld, was reluctant to give up anyone that happened to come under his domain, but Orpheus simply whipped out his magic lyre and began to perform a song for the god. Hades was touched, and agreed to allow Orpheus to have his wife back on one condition." Ed paused for emphasis, which just got the children shouting at him further to continue. He chuckled and then did so. "Orpheus would be permitted to leave with his wife _only_ if he would leave the underworld, and not turn around to look until he had returned to his own house."

"Did he make it?" asked an impatient child.

"Well, let's see," said Edward, patiently answering each interruption without spending too much time on any one of them. "So Orpheus began the journey out of the underworld in high spirits that he was to be given his wife back, but he soon began to worry. Was Hades telling him the truth? Was his wife really following him? He tried so hard not to think of such things, but the worry bothered him still. Finally, in desperation, he turned around and looked."

A child gasped. "And then what happened?"

"And then," said Edward, "He beheld his wife once again, faithfully following behind him, but only for a brief moment, as his act of turning around had violated the agreement, and so as soon as he had seen her, she suddenly vanished from his sight, never to be seen again."

"Then what else happened?" asked a frantic child.

"Nothing," said Edward, "That's the end of the story."

"That's the end?"

"Yep."

"But I don't like it!"

"I'm sorry," said Edward, "Why don't you make up the ending you would like and tell it to the rest of us?"

"Okay!" said the little girl eagerly, who then hopped up beside Edward, which she seemed to consider to be the speaker's spot, since everyone was looking at Edward, after all, and then she began her retelling of the last part of the story. "After Orphy talked to the god guy, he left and started going back to his house. He wanted to turn around and see if his wife was there, but he didn't, because he wanted her back. Then, when he finally got back to his house, he turned around and saw his wife, and she didn't disappear, and then they lived happily ever after."

Edward smiled and chuckled. "Did you read a lot of fairy tales when you were alive?"

"No, but my mommy told me a lot of them."

Edward nodded and smiled again. "I'd guessed as much." He slammed the book shut. "Just another dead end, I guess. Someone get me another book."

"Wait," said the little boy that had kicked his shin and had the tendency to always speak his mind, "What if that one's true?"

Edward looked up from his reading to view the little boy. "What if it's true? It's a myth, kid. Myths aren't true."

"Some are," said the little boy.

Well, Ed couldn't deny that. The kid was pretty smart, he had to give him credit. "Okay," he sighed, "Let's suppose this one is true. Why does it matter?"

"Because..." the little boy said like he was explaining a very basic concept to a stubborn first grader, "They got out of Hell...well...almost."

Ed smiled again at the boy and then leaned against the book stand so that he was paying more attention to what the little boy was saying. "I suppose that's true," he said, "But if this myth were real, then there would be a passage to go out of, and I haven't seen any here. No one has ever gotten out of here before."

"Orpheus has!" said the little boy. Ed rolled his eyes.

"We don't even know if he even existed."

"But he might have!"

Ed rubbed his forehead in slight agitation. "Yeah, yeah, he might have, but we don't have any clues to tell us whether that is true or not, do we?"

Silence followed for a few moments, and then that little boy suddenly spoke up again. "I'm gonna go look for a secret passage!" Without giving anyone time to react, he bolted from the room and was gone. After everyone had adjusted to his spontaneous decision, other children began following his example and leaving to seek out secret passages. Before long, barely anyone was left in the chamber.

"Mr. Demon, sir?" said a little girl that was still standing near him.

Edward looked down at her gently and said, "Call me Edward, please."

"Edward..." the girl began again, trying out the new name on her tongue, "Do you think there really is a secret passage out of here?"

The demon shrugged. "I really don't know, but seeing as everyone else is looking for one, and we really don't have a better clue, what say we join the rest in the search?"

"Okay," she said, and without another word, Edward reached down and hoisted the girl up onto his shoulders and sauntered out of the room.

* * *

"I'm really worried about Al," Winry confessed to what remained of the group she had come with to the demon home world, "He's not acting right. He's not acting quite like the Al I know." 

Hughes leaned his back against a nearby tree and crossed his legs into a comfortable standing position, and then brought his hand up to his face to stroke his chin while thinking. "Have you ever seen him get a temper like that? I mean, with him swearing and everything?"

Winry shook her head. "I've seen his temper flare before, and pretty badly too, I might add," she blinked a couple times as tears pricked at her eyes, "But him swearing in anger? Never! The only times I've ever heard him utter a curse word before is if he's either quoting someone or if Ed somehow tricks Al into cussing."

"So this is VERY unusual behavior for him," said Hughes.

"Extremely," said Winry, "That's why I'm so concerned...I understand him being upset about Ed being gone...I am too, but we both know that he's not dead. I don't see what made him go...to that extent."

Hughes straightened up and stood in place for a moment looking at Winry, and then proceeded to pace back and forth for a few steps, muttering, "I don't like this, there's something wrong with this," without bothering to explain what it was that was on his mind.

Winry nervously shifted from one foot to the other, impatiently waiting for someone to do something, anything. When no one budged in that direction, she finally exclaimed, "Well, can't we do _anything?_" Everyone simply responded by standing in place and staring at her in silence. Okay, that meant they were clueless, right? Positively clueless, just as much as she. It turned out that she didn't have to wait long for something to happen though, because right at that moment, Al came strolling up, head hanging down so that one couldn't see his face.

"Al!" Winry said, turning around to face him and then running up to him, "You had us so worried!"

"Back off!" Al shouted and drew out his hand toward her, a sword magically materializing in his grip. Winry stopped and stared in complete shock just a couple inches from the sword's tip. Any closer and she would have been stabbed. What had gotten into Al?

"Al, what's the matter?" asked Winry.

The boy raised his head and looked into Winry's eyes, the sight of which made Winry gasp and jump back in fright. That was not the face that she had expected to see on sweet, innocent little Al. In its place was a face filled with hate and anger, and worse than that, his eyes had turned to a shade of bright glowing red.

"Mr. Hughes," said Winry, "I think something's going on here."

"I think," said Hughes, "That you're absolutely right."

**_Okay, feel free to leave me some reviews if you'd like, and I'll try to update soon._**

**_Ed two: Help meeeeeee!!!_**

**_Ed one: Nya nya! ((points and laughs))_**

**_Me: ((shakes head)) Idiots._**


End file.
